The Astros are 2-0 in Spring Training and thus telling Bud Selig where he can shove it. This team is poised to shock the world!
I hope you are catching my sarcasm, but a quick search of twitter will lead you to some reactions such as this. A 2-0 start in Spring Training is nice, but it is not telling of what is to come.
There have been some encouraging signs especially on the offensive side of the ball. Chris Johnson and J.D. Martinez appear to be locked in early. Fernando Martinez has made good contact. His home run today was clearly wind aided, but I like his opposite field approach. I am not ready to plug him in the two hole and turn him loose, but he had a nice game today.
Another clear conclusion that we can draw is that our prospects suck, right? No, that's not right.
Our top three offensive prospects in camp went 0-5 with 5 strikeouts. I urge you to refrain from declaring these guys a bust based on today. Going into this weekend, Singleton, DeShields, and Springer had a combined 0 at bats against Major League talent. Singleton struck out against Lidge and Drew Storen. You could see it on Singleton's face after the K. You could tell that he was just owned by a big league slider.
Springer went down to Ryan Mattheus, who isn't a household name, but as a rookie last season posted a 2.81 ERA in 35 appearances. Springer also was introduced to one of the better setup men in baseball in Tyler Clippard.
DeShields was blown away by a legit closer in Drew Storen.
Brett Wallace continues to be overmatched by left handers. I know there is push from folks on the twitter for Mills to allow Wallace to play against left handers on a more regular basis in order to build his confidence. The argument has merit, but at some point, a guy is what he is. The argument is especially accurate when your right handed option is Jason Michaels.
The Astros offense did what it is supposed to do to a pitcher who can't find his spots. Tom Gorzelanny was all over the place. He issued 4 free passes in 1 inning of work, and when he wasn't walking people, he was leaving the ball up. He doesn't have the stuff to get away with that when he is in mid-season form much less in the second week of camp.
On another bright offensive note, J.D. Martinez has the kind of swing that can hit at any level. Its the type of swing that doesn't have a huge amount of holes. Its quick, compact, and powerful. Its see the ball and hit the ball.
Let's focus on J.A. Happ for just a moment.
Happ's performance wasn't all that encouraging or disappointing. He was clearly working on his fastball, as it seemed to be the only pitch that he threw. It appeared to be moving a little bit more than I remember from last year. It looked to have a little more cut to it. I will need to go find some video and check it out.
He was missing his spots, but most pitchers are still trying to get their feel. I don't think that you can read too much into the stat line today. He was clearly working on something.
In closing, we must take everything that we see for the first couple of weeks in stride. We still know very little about how this thing will play out.
No comments:
Post a Comment