Friday's Three Astros Things

Talking about Chas, Harvey Haddix, and ...

Some things to talk about while I tell you how much I hate losing to the Yankees. I shoulda been a farmer, Red…

Chas’ outside shot at 20-20

Far be it from me to wishcast, but let’s think through this.

Chas McCormick, after Wednesday’s day game against Cleveland, has 15 home runs and 12 steals. Since the first of June, he’s hit 11 home runs and stolen eight bases in 173 plate appearances.

If Chazzy Fizz gets 165 more plate appearances through the end of September and continues hitting at this pace, he could get to 20 home runs and 20 steals. In fact, I’d say he’s almost a mortal lock to get 20 homers, but he will have to up his pace a bit to get to 20 steals.

It would be the first time Houston had a 20-20 player since…last year when Kyle Tucker did it. It would be the 20th time in franchise history.

If Kyle Tucker, who is a mortal lock for the 20-20 club this year, already having stolen 20 bases and sitting on 18 homers, gets his 20-20 too, it will be the third time in franchise history the team has had two 20-20 players in the same season.

The first time was Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell in 1997. The second was Bagwell and Carl “I Don’t Believe in Dinosaurs” Everett in 1999.

Jeremy Pena sits at 10 homers and 10 steals. Just for fun, I looked up the last time an Astros team had three players with 15 homers and 15 steals. They have done it three times, in 1996, 1997, and 1999. Biggio added to the total in 1999 and Derek Bell did it in both 1996 and 1997.

This has been On Pace For Guy, signing off.

Framber’s Similarity Scores

On Wednesday, I mentioned how fun Framber Valdez is, as he’s so unique as a pitcher. He is a sinkerballer who basically broke the metrics for sinkerballers, putting up multiple seasons with a 60 percent ground ball rate. He also now throws his fastball at 97 mph. Those two things shouldn’t go together.

Yet, here we are.

Also, Framber is kind of weird for coming out of nowhere. No one expected him to become the rotation’s ace. He was a young gun on that historic 2019 team, but still came out of the bullpen. He didn’t transition into the starting rotation until the strike shortened 2020 season and didn’t throw more than 150 innings until last year.

And yet, here we are.

Because of how unique he is in my mind, I wanted to look up his Similarity Scores on Baseball Reference. For those unaware, Similarity Scores look at a players career to date and match them up with other players throughout history to see how similar they are.

Framber’s No. 1 match? Harvey Haddix. Which delighted me to no end.

See, one of my favorite baseball songs of all time is Harvey Haddix by the Baseball Project. It’s so catchy and fun and the story of Haddix throwing a perfect game that kept going and going and going is so fun and sad at the same time.

The song also hits with these lyrics:

The search for perfection is a funny thing, at least as I've been told

It drives you nuts, it makes you curse, and eats away at your soul

Sometimes better isn't better, sometimes justice just ain't served

Sometimes legend isn't laid where it's most deserved

But humanity is flawed, as the losers will attest

We're drawn to tragic stories, the ones that suit us best

But for 12 innings on that fateful day, old Harvey was a god

A perfect game, if nothing else, because perfection's always flawed

Again, for a fun song about a pitcher who has a fun name and a pretty tragic story, those lyrics are deep. They make you think. Every time.

This has been Going Down A Rabbit Hole With David, signing off.

FanGraphs ranks the prospects given up at the trade deadline

As the title above says, FanGraphs prospect writers ranked all the prospects moved at the deadline this year.

Houston had three on the list:

2 - Drew Gilbert

6 - Korey Lee

10 - Ryan Clifford

What’s funny is of course Astros Twitter was more bereft over losing Clifford, even though he’s the lowest ranked guy on this list. I get it too. He’s a lottery ticket. He’s got that potential to boom. But, he has a non-insignificant chance to bust. The tiny writeup at FanGraphs called him a Lucas Duda type. And, hey, Lucas Duda was a major league player. That’s a great outcome for a dude at High-A ball.

I’m surprised Korey Lee was this high, but I also didn’t feel too broken up about sending him away. In a one-to-one swap for a reliever who should stabilize the bullpen this year and next, that’s a good deal. There are some very real concerns over Lee’s bat, as FanGraphs notes he has a 30-grade hit tool. He’s great defensively, but with all-intangibles, no-bat Martin Maldonado already on the roster, Houston can’t really afford to carry him too.

What’s more telling for Lee’s future is out of spring training (and again this summer), Houston chose Cesar Salazar to be the third catcher on this roster, when Lee was right there. For whatever reason, this new front office didn’t value him in the same way.

Did we add in that Yainer Diaz effectively blocked Lee’s playing time too?

Anyway, it’s an interesting list. Houston gave up certain value across the board to acquire Graveman and Verlander. Let’s hope they don’t regret it.

This has been Amateur Prospect Knower, signing off.