Houston Astros: The mystery of why Robinson Chirinos makes a solid fit

The Houston Astros have patched up their catching situation by signing Robinson Chirinos to a one-year deal. Is he a solid fit? Let’s take a look into it.

Houston Astros fans — it’s official. Spring Training has started which only mean that it will be a matter of about a month and a half before the regular season start and we’ll start flocking back to Minute Maid Park to see our guys in action.

They’ve already unveiled their new marketing theme for 2019, dubbed as “Take It Back,” a quite-catchy outlier to what this season should be all about.

Let’s just hope that the team has the goods to take it all back as there might be a few faces missing from the lineup. Two mainstays in Dallas Keuchel and Marwin Gonzalez are still testing the waters in free agency and have not locked on to any teams just yet. I have my fingers crossed that the Houston Astros and those two can come back to the table but I’m almost certain a team with extra cash on hand is going to make them an offer that they can’t refuse.

But the fact that Spring Training has started yet Bryce Harper and Manny Machado haven’t been signed indicates that this year’s free agency may shake out longer than we expected.

J.T. Realmuto has found a new home with Philadelphia Phillies — who appear to be going all-in with their spending — after being dealt there from the Miami Marlins just one week ago.

But circling back to the Houston Astros — the team still needed to solve their catching conundrum, a position that has had no long-term answer for countless seasons.

Because of other priorities to beef up the roster, the investment for a dominant catcher likely hasn’t been what the team has hoped for. It was nice to see the Houston Astros mentioned once or twice in the Realmuto sweepstakes; but obviously, the price for the talented catcher was way too high.

So the Houston Astros have settled on 34-year-old Robinson Chirinos, who has been the catcher for the Texans Rangers for the past few seasons. He signed with the team this off season on a one-year, $5.8 million deal for 2019. The team obviously knows a lot about him since he comes from a division rival but could the team have done better in free agency than Chirinos?

We’re about to find out.

Although his speed, his pop of the bat and exit velocity are all pretty much below average at this point in his career, Chirinos is a magician at doing what the Houston Astros value the most out of their positional players.

What is that you may ask?

Getting on base.

Chirinos posted a .757 OPS last season and has maintained a .751 OPS for his seven-year career in the pros, notwithstanding his debut season with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011. He consistently has a knack for it which is something that Max Stassi, Martin Maldonado and to a lesser extent, Brian McCann on a consistent basis.

Although his batting seems to mirror the average man’s weight, this man has proven as recent as last season that he has the ability to hit in the clutch.

In 2018, he batted .322 with runners in scoring position coupled with an amazing 1.022 OPS. That’s a vast improvement from 2017 where batted .207 and a .631 OPS.

So would you trust Chirinos at-bat when the game is on the line and you need a key knock for a score?

I think it’s time to do so and that’s a huge reason why he’s here.

If you’re expecting a break out for Chirinos out of the gate when the season starts, think again, he typically gets into a groove right after the All-Star Break. Let’s break it down below.

Chirinos’ Batting by Month with at-bats since 2014 (with at least 40 at-bats):

Best Months:

2014: June .304 (56)

2015: July .263 (57)

2016: July .212 (52)

2017: August .349 (63)

2018: September .255 (47)

Worst Months:

2014: July .175 (57)

2015: April .163 (43)

2016: July .212 (52)

2017: June .205 (44)

2018: August .189 (53)

For Chirinos, 2014 was the first season where he started to get significant at-bats so I’ve included the sample size from that point. Typically by July, he’s getting himself into a groove but it’s usually associated with a slow start at the plate.

July is peculiar month for him as he’s been all over the map in his career in terms of his production but one can safely say that he typically isn’t a strong hitter at the plate at the start of the season.

But based off his performance, it’s safe to say that he’s hitting his stride late in the season which may be what the team needs when they’re in the mode of wrapping things up and preparing for the postseason.

His 140 strikeouts — 24th in the AL — that he notched in 2018 were more than anybody on the

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Houston Astros‘ roster with MarGo coming in at 126. That’s definitely something one has to be concerned about in the early goings of the season as him being 4th among AL catchers in stolen bases allowed (53).

Chirinos also arrived to West Palm Beach, Fla. about a week early to accelerate establishing a notable rapport with the pitching staff and just caught Justin Verlander‘s bullpen session yesterday.

Those are all good things to hear as he’s vested in ensuring that he’s doing his part to make the Houston Astros successful as a whole.

But this isn’t anything new for Chirinos, who does in-depth research when it comes to getting acquainted with new pitchers. Before Cole Hamels was traded to the Rangers in 2015, he had called up Carlos Ruiz, Hamels’ primary catcher with the Phillies, to pick his brain. I’d expect nothing less out of him as he gets acclimated to this staff.

Chirinos is also bilingual and deeply religious — although it’s not necessarily a requirement to have those two attributes to be a good baseball player, it certainly rounds out the character of the individual that the team has brought into the fold.

Just based off his history, I wouldn’t expect too much out of Chirinos at the plate as he gets his feet wet with the Houston Astros and there’s a good chance that he will strike out a lot. But with the core strength of the team’s batting intact and healthy, I’m positive the team’s brass feels it likely won’t matter because his performance as well as leadership when he’s catching will be more paramount.

These attributes, despite his weaknesses, make him a solid fit with the team.

Let’s keep our eyes peeled and wish our new catcher the best of luck.

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Chirinos batted .222/.338/.419 while popping 18 homers and 65 ribbies through 113 games — 426 plate appearances — with the Rangers last season.

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