Houston Astros: The one troubling stat that the team needs to fix

Houston Astros fans — every team in baseball will have flaws that can be fixable. That’s no exception with this franchise. Despite having an incredible season to this point, there is a troubling stat that is concerning for the team. For whatever reason, the routine double play is becoming more common to the club these days.

As fans, we can be frustrated with the struggles of a team on any given night. Baseball is a game where seven times out of 10, you’ll fail to hit a baseball. The Houston Astros have become a team that appears to be playing better on the road then at home. Why is that a possibility? Well, it’s possible we could be encountering a double play, which ironically is the point of the entry.

Friday night’s 1-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals could be blamed on a few things. One of which is the fact that we’re at home and we’re not as dominant as we are on the road. My theory for this is that we use Minute Maid Park as a refueling station like cars use gas tanks. You can only go so far before you nearly run out of fuel. So you to refuel to get gas or get your bats up again.

It sounds like a ridiculous theory when you think about it because the Houston Astros will have games at home when they play like they do on the road. It’s just a matter of when. But that’s not the point of this entry.

Another reason you can say we lost is Ken Giles, which we know isn’t the truth. The biggest reason why we lost comes from our greatest strength: the offense.

Deserted on an island

We left the bases loaded twice Friday night and it’s frustrating. You got guys on base, you’re

More from House of Houston

supposed to drive them in. But that’s the nature of the game. There will be times when you don’t drive in the run and unfortunately, that was the case on Friday.

Yet, there is a more concerning stat than just RISP. If there is one thing that is more frustrating than leaving the bases loaded, it’s the dreaded double play.

Three times we grounded into a double play and two times came with the bases loaded. It’s frustrating knowing a big opportunity is wasted on one play worth two outs. Maybe we should be entitled to have four outs in an inning.

But the thing is it’s not just last night. It appears to be a recurring theme lately. While the Houston Astros have won 14 of their last 16 games, they also have hit into a lot of double plays. Ranging from 6-4-3, 5-4-3, 4-6-3, or sometimes 8-2, the Astros have wasted golden chances to score by hitting into two outs.

Double Trouble

How concerning is it? Well, guess who is atop the leader board in most double plays hit? With 77 double plays, you might as well sign a petition for the Astros to hit with only the opposing pitcher. As fans, we always say let’s get two when our team is on defense. But lately, our wishes and prayers for two haven’t been answered.

Obviously, we can’t control where the batter hits the ball. It’s either the ball is hit to the wrong spot where the fielder is. Or we hit the ball hard, but the defense makes a good play. But then again, we could be trying too much at the plate and we would need to have patient at-bats.

Next: The case for Evan Gattis to be an All-Star

It’s frustrating, but that’s the nature of baseball. Double plays happen to every team. There isn’t anything we can do to change that. But if we want to be a better team than we are now (we’re in first place, yes.) then we’ll have to try and limit our approaches to the plate and ground balls.

Home/Houston Astros