Houston Astros: Alex Bregman on the road to becoming the face of MLB

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Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images) /

Reason #3: He’s not afraid to stir stuff up

Bregman has made headlines in recent weeks with his bold statements. From talks of the Houston Astros becoming a dynasty to him wanting to beat Boston more than any other city, Bregman knows how to grab the spotlight and attention from the naysayers.

If this were 2016 and 2017, he would be ridiculed because as good as Bregman was becoming, he hadn’t earned the right to say what he feels deep down without being ridiculed. But after last season and all the attention Bregman is getting, no question he deserves the attention.

In the NBA, the Golden State Warriors are loved by their fans, but hated by others. Tom Brady is loathed anywhere else except for Boston. Some of baseball’s current heels include Harper, Manny Machado, Yasiel Puig, and Kris Bryant after his recent St. Louis is boring comments. But then, you have the Houston Astros with the potential to be a team for the ages.

However, while the team has swagger and confidence, it’s hard to pinpoint any one of them to hate because they have loving, kind, and enjoyable personalities, especially Josh Reddick. Bregman is like that too, but in order to make Houston marketable, he has to be the heel Houston needs. Someone fans love to watch and love to hate. He is the one guy willing to make a comment that can draw the ire from the media.

Remember in the ALDS when he wasn’t happy with not getting primetime games because the Yankees and Red Sox were bigger ratings draws when the Astros and Indians were the two previous American League champs? He called the Astros the Show Stros. That got a lot of attention because he had a point. Why were the Astros and Indians doing day games when they were the previous champs?

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Bregman knows well when to strike on social media as evidenced by his Twitter message to Trevor Bauer (or is it Tyler?) after the Indians’ pitcher accused us of doctoring baseballs? Those two have had their tiffs with each other lately. Last time we checked, Bregman won.

Of course, there have been times when Bregman went a bit far with his postings. The time when he posted Nathan Evoldi giving up three straight homers went viral and Bregman took heat for it. Obviously, the post backfired and Evoldi won the day for now. But that’s Bregman being Bregman. He’s willing to stir up some hot takes and make himself a player for MLB to recognize. Who wants to see an Astros-Red Sox rivalry? Will Bregman best Bauer again on Twitter? This is legitimate stuff that we have going on here.

I used to have issues with our athletes making ridiculous claims even if they were true to the media because it would be seen as bulletin board material. You always want to respect your opponent and beat them the old fashion way without getting them fired up. But after looking at Bregman and what he’s doing for himself and baseball in general, I think I might need to rethink everything I thought before.

Because Bregman is becoming a star and because he plays for a team that isn’t a major marketable franchise, but is putting them on the map, there’s no question Bregman is representing Houston the right way. We can only hope Houston can sign him for a long term deal after his first contract is up because we need a guy like Bregman to keep making the Astros relevant in the league.

Whereas Altuve is the face of the franchise and will always be among the top of the list of great Houston Astros players, Bregman is the villain that we love on our team but hate if he were on the opposition. Plus, with his social media tools and personality along with his great causes, we need him to be a great representative for the game.

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What do you guys think? Should the MLB spend more time with Bregman to making the sport again? The Houston Astros star has everything needed for it.

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