Houston Astros Rumors: Issues to solve, outlook strong in Spring Training
The bats are alive and well!
One thing we can say about the bats 12 Games in: they look amazing! With the pitching staff having 12, the position players will be left at 13. As it stands right now, 20 guys have batting averages above the .250 mark. The only three of the projected starting lineup that are below that mark are Aledmys Diaz, Max Stassi and Jose Altuve. And let’s face it, we all know that the latter of that list is getting on this team without a single shadow of a doubt.
Tyler White and Tony Kemp are out of minor league options, and because of it Brian McTaggart believes they will make the roster somehow, even as bench options. Nevertheless, I recently made the case to consider Jake Marisnick with his new approach at the plate.
Meanwhile, Alex Bregman finally made his spring debut on Saturday after off season elbow surgery. Hinch has been taking it easy with him, so he had a scheduled day off Sunday. But on Monday, in the home loss against the Mets, Bregman went 2-for-3 with a 2 run bomb in the 5th inning. Safe to say, Bregatron sequence has been initiated!
More. Jake Marisnick could be an X-Factor in 2019. light
A couple of other notes for the rest of the position players. George Springer has dropped about 12 pounds from what he played at last year. This should help him be quicker and faster in centerfield as well as on the base paths. Altuve and Carlos Correa are both looking 100% healthy as the season slowly approaches.
After four of the Houston Astros best players either spent time on the DL last year or had surgeries this offseason, there is some definite rust that needs to be shaken off before the start of the season in addition to figuring out how the roster and playing time rotation will get sorted out.