I thought he was washed too! I couldn't be happier to see him pitching great again. I never thought it would happen.
I didn't even know we fired our hitting coaches until I saw that post. FINALLY!!!!! I've been wanting that to happen for a long time. Woohoo.
It's clear coming into the season Altuve made a conscious effort to take more pitches this season. It's not a huge sample size, but the early results are glaring enough to acknowledge it. He chased a ton the last 2 seasons, one of the worst in all of baseball. If he can maintain this and force people back into the zone with fastballs it could be a huge bounce back season for him.
Pretty much impossible to know unless Altuve comes out and says something about it. It doesn't take a brilliant mind to realize he was chasing way too many pitches the last 2 seasons. A player with his status can pretty much take any approach he feels like, I would say more likely than not he made the choice. Maybe a coach sat him down and showed him the data. Yainer had the same issue but he still has the same simple jack approach he always had. Swing at better pitches is not knowledge an MLB hitting coach should have to share.
He has 8 walks so far in 6 games. I think with the new zone, his height has become an advantage. He is also listed at 5’6” now. His zone probable shrank by 3 inches or more. It’s probably 6 inches lower than yordan which can probably cause issues for pitchers facing them back to back. If ABS was around for all of his career, his numbers would have been insane especially when he was winning batting titles.
Man O Man was that a fun game to watch, I watched that Cam Smith SO-Walk in real time and I didn't catch it was strike 3 LOL....the play at home must have distracted all of us They are on a tear and its WAY to early to see how that translates into anything that is sustainable, but I am down for it. TBH I thought the season was lost after game 2, but I am way to up and down after every game so I am gonna chill and have fun watching this
if he can just be the "right handed Michael Brantley at 1B" that we thought jabreau would be the Astros are golden
I'm glad his woes last season were caused by injury and being in a new environment instead of what happened with Abreu who looked old and out of sync. There was a theory that Abreu was never the same after his big concussion in his last season with the white sox.
Bats will be tested today. I predict a fall off and a loss only because the streak can't continue much longer and Crochet will be pounding the zone and hitting the edges.
The every other game Pena treatment is weird. Crochet probably gonna be tough to hit. Hope we can scratch out a W
