Who Am I?

Teoscar Hernandez

Outfielder

Age: 24

Height: 6′ 2″

Weight: 180

Bats right, throws right

How Did I Get Here?

Hernandez signed with the Astros as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2011. He was added to the 40-man roster upon his call up in August 2016.

Contract status:

Hernandez has three full option years remaining.

Why Am I Here?

Hernandez is part of a crowded minor league outfield situation. While the Astros’ team site has him listed as a left fielder, his ability (or lack thereof) to man center field may ultimately determine his fate with the organization.

What Are My Strengths?

Well, Teoscar is unique. Upon his major league debut, Teoscar Hernandez became the first – and thus far, only – Teoscar in the history of major league baseball. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice.

Hernandez – or “Teo” as many affectionately call him – has speed to burn, and absolutely no conscience about stealing a base. In the minors, he’s been good for at least 30 steals per full season, and he stays around a 75% success rate – not great, but good enough to keep running. He has also shown 10-15 HR levels of pop.

What Are My Weaknesses?

While 10-15 HR pop is nice, it typically isn’t a carrying tool at a corner outfield spot. And Hernandez isn’t especially patient – certainly not to the degree that a speedster would need to offset a lack of power.

Between the two, Hernandez could still be fine with the bat as a center fielder. Unfortunately, his 15 games in center field at the major league level could charitably be called “adventurous”. He’s certainly closer to Biggio than Marisnick on the “center field defensive spectrum” at the moment.

Loves to hit: Teo jumped on lefties to the tune of .278/.381/.500 during his major league stint, leading to early questions of whether he would be a good platoon candidate.

Hates to hit: Unsurprisingly for a rookie, Teo struggled behind in the count, managing a meek 3 for 29 when behind.

What is my future with the Astros?

Completely up in the air. Can Springer be an effective center fielder? Can Marisnick really develop as a hitter? Can Hernandez actually play center field without causing cringe-related facial injuries to the fanbase? His potential ranges from “never more than occasional cups of coffee” to “regular center fielder.”

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

A certain former Astro earned the nickname “Crazy Ivan” for his rather indirect outfield routes, in a nod to an increasingly topical movie:

Russian captains sometime turn suddenly to see if anyone’s behind them. We call it “Crazy Ivan.” The only thing you can do is go dead. Shut everything down and make like a hole in the water.

For his sake, let’s hope Teo doesn’t go on to guest star on a horrible Netflix sitcom sequel/reboot.

Who Am I?

Andrew Aplin

Center Field

Age: 26

Height: 6′ 0″

Weight: 205

Bats left, throws left

How Did I Get Here?

Aplin was Houston’s 5th round draft pick in 2012 out of Arizona State. He was added to the 40-man roster after the 2015 season.

Contract status:

Aplin has two option years remaining.

Why Am I Here?

The hope is that Aplin will develop in to the classic good glove, good OBP, speedy center fielder type that people have idealized since the days of Vince Coleman.

What Are My Strengths?

Aplin has shown great discipline in most of his time in the minors, posting OBP north of .370 in every season before 2016. He is reputed to be a strong fielder, holding his own well in center field in the minors.

What Are My Weaknesses?

Aplin has absolutely no power whatsoever – his slugging percentage is usually under is on base percentage. To make matters worse, he absolutely cratered at the plate in 2016, posting a .223/.300/.318 line at AAA. It’s one thing to see that from a player in his first exposure at the level, but Aplin already had 100+ games at AAA in the previous two seasons.

Loves to hit: You know what? If a guy is barely making the Mendoza line in his second full tour of AAA, I think we can skip this section. Suffice it to say, any type of major league pitching will likely eat him alive right now.

What is my future with the Astros?

Aplin will need a big bounce back in 2017 at the plate to avoid the dreaded “designated for assignment.” If he can do that, he could carve out a niche for himself on the bench if/when Marisnick becomes too expensive for a backup outfielder.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

Ah, the classic “if he could only get on base” center fielder… it reminds me of the glory days of Gerald Young and Eric “Cool Breeze” Yelding. If Aplin had a nickname nearly as fabulous as “cool breeze”, he’d have a better chance of sticking around in my opinion.

Who Am I?

Norichika Aoki

Corner outfield

Age: 35

Height: 5′ 9″

Weight: 180

Bats left, throws right

How Did I Get Here?

It’s been a long and winding road for Aoki. In 2012, he came to Milwaukee from the Yakult Swallows. (Try that Yakult to Milwaukee transition some time. A bit of culture shock.) After the 2013 season, he was traded by the Brewers to Kansas City for Will Smith, which shows you just how far Smith’s stock fell after releasing “After Earth”. After the 2014 season, he was non-tendered by Kansas City and signed as a free agent with San Francisco. After the 2015 season, he was non-tendered by the Giants and signed as a free agent with Seattle. (Seeing a pattern here?)

Finally, he was waived by Seattle after the 2016 to create room on their 40-man roster, and was claimed by the Astros.

Contract status:

Aoki is under contract for 2017 for $5.5M and is still eligible for arbitration in 2018.

Why Am I Here?

Whether by design or simply by result of using the players available to them, the Astros for the past few seasons had a lineup that was very right-handed, very powerful, and VERY prone to strikeouts. Aoki comes in to counterbalance all of these issues. He will hit for next to no power – but he will provide a left handed bat that makes a lot of contact and strikes out infrequently. Aoki looks like a platoon player coming into the season.

What Are My Strengths?

Aoki provides a dependable contact bat with a high level of consistency. His OBP by season for his career:

• .355
• .356
• .349
• .353
• .349

That’s a fairly minuscule standard deviation for a guy 5 years into his MLB career. He also walks as much as he strikes out, which is a quality that sticks out like a sore healthy thumb in this lineup.

What Are My Weaknesses?

I’ll allow the wordsmiths at Baseball Prospectus to properly describe Aoki’s defense:

If one were scoring the soundtrack of The Nori Aoki Show, it would be equal parts “Yakety Sax” and the theme from Curb Your Enthusiasm, with a soupçon of the Inception claxon for the darker moments when, as if propelled by the ballpark flipping on its side, he throws his body out of the path of an incoming fastball.

Also, you’d hope that a high-OBP guy would be a better baserunner, but he’s average at best and has shown alarmingly bad judgement in stolen base attempts.

Loves to hit: Much as described with Tyler White yesterday, Aoki uses his discerning eye to get himself to a good fastball. Last year, he hit .348 with a .529 SLG on fastballs, including 3 of his 4 homers.

Hates to hit:  Aoki seems to struggle identifying the changeup – last year he only went 13 for 57 on the change, with only one extra base hit.

What is my future with the Astros?

With one more season of arbitration eligibility, and as he is getting long in the tooth, Aoki’s future would not appear to extend beyond 2018 in Houston. For 2017, he’ll have every opportunity to hold down the job, but the kids like Fisher and the Tucker brothers are knocking on the door to take that corner OF spot.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

On those 2004-05 teams, the Astros had a dependable veteran lefty with good contact and OBP skills and absolutely no power. I really liked what Orlando Palmeiro brought to the table, and I’m hoping Aoki can do the same.

Who Am I?

Tyler White

First baseman

Age: 26

Height: 5′ 11″

Weight: 225

Bats right, throws right

How Did I Get Here?

White was drafted in the 33rd round by the Astros in 2013. He debuted on the Opening Day 2016 roster.

Contract Status: 

White has two option years remaining and could be eligible for arbitration in 2020.

Why Am I Here?

Well, the plan was originally to let White win the first base job last season. I mean, that wasn’t the original plan – you don’t plan for a 33rd round pick to do anything with your organization except to soak up at bats. But White started hitting in the minors, and kept hitting, and hit his way right into the Opening Day lineup. And for 9 glorious games, it looked like Tyler White would be the greatest out-of-nowhere story of the season, as he started off .483/.529/.897 tear that included 3 doubles, 3 homers, and a Player of the Week award. Unfortunately, the league caught up with him, as he hit only .183/.252/.308 the rest of the season.

Given that you don’t exactly look for that kind of hitting from a first baseman – and the fact that Gurriel and Reed are ahead of him at first base – White is looking to become a utility player. Look for him to get reps at third and second in addition to first at Fresno, and if Marwin Gonzalez is injured at any point, White could take over that utility role.

What Are My Strengths?

White has a good eye and showed good patience for a rookie. He wasn’t guessing early in the count – he was working his way to pitches he knew he could turn on.

What Are My Weaknesses?

Once pitchers saw the book on him, they would throw a get-over strike one without fear that he’d jump on it, and then control the at-bat from there.  And while he has some power, it’s not the kind of power that’s going to carry him at first base. He’ll need to show that he can field respectably across the infield to hold down a job.

Loves to hit: As indicated above on his pitch selection, White was going hunting for fastballs – even with his disappointing numbers, he did hit .273 with a .442 SLG against the heater.

Hates to hit: Curveballs. White saw 92 curveballs, and went just 1 for 23. (He wasn’t much better against sliders, at just 2 for 13.)

What is my future with the Astros?

If he can show enough glove around the infield? He’s the heir apparent to Martin Gonzalez. If not? well, he’ll always have that wondrous early April 2016. It’s a whole lot more than most 33rd round picks do.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

If only he could catch. Who knows, maybe he’ll do that too, if that’s what it takes to get back to the bigs.

Yeah, I was in the show. I was in the show for 21 days once – the 21 greatest days of my life. You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.

Don’t think, meat. It can only hurt the ball club.

Who Am I?

A.J. Reed

First baseman

Age: 23

Height: 6′ 4″

Weight: 275

Bats left, throws left

How Did I Get Here?

A.J. was drafted in the second round by Houston in 2014 out of Kentucky. He was added to the 40 man roster when he made his MLB debut in June 2016.

Contract Status:

Reed has two option years remaining and could be eligible for arbitration in 2020.

Why Am I Here?

Reed is still the first baseman/DH of the future, but that future got a little further off with the signing of Carlos Beltran and the move of Gurriel to first base.

What Are My Strengths?

There’s been a move in MLB toward leaner, more athletic first basemen in the Joey Votto or Paul Goldschmidt mold.

A.J. Reed is not one of those first basemen. He is a big, burly man who will hit the ball very, very hard. He has punished the ball at all levels of the minors – never slugging below .522.

He has also worked hard to improve his defense to “acceptable.”

Oh… and he can serve as your late-extra-inning relief, I would assume; he was the #1 starting pitcher for Kentucky.

What Are My Weaknesses?

A.J. has a looooong swing – and major league pitchers exploited every bit of it during his debut. It’s one thing to accept that increased strikeouts are a product of swinging for the fences, but nobody is going to survive striking out 34% of the time.

Loves to hit: Early in the count. When Reed went after the first pitch or a 1-0 pitch, he went 12 for 29 with 2 doubles and 2 homers.

Hates to hit: Well, he didn’t get many chances, but only 1 for 15 against lefties didn’t exactly say that he should keep getting more chances.

What is my future with the Astros?

I would expect Reed to stick around – no doubt injuries will give him some more time in the majors this year, and who knows if Beltran will be able to go beyond this season; if not, that DH slot opens right back up for Reed.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

Visually – the body type, the swing – I see a lot of Matt Stairs.

Statistically? If I’m looking at a first baseman who tore up the minors and then struggled mightily with strikeouts when he debuted, you have to look no further back than Chris Carter.

Who Am I?

Colin Moran

(Ed. note: Colin Moran looks so much like my brother that I’m calling my parents and just double-checking that there’s nothing they haven’t told us.)

Third baseman

Age: 24

Height: 6′ 4″

Weight: 204

Bats left, throws right

How Did I Get Here?

The Marlins made Moran the 6th overall selection of the draft in 2013. He was then the centerpiece of the package the Astros got for Jared Coast, Austin Hates, and Enrique Hernandez at the 2014 trade deadline; in retrospect, he seems like the LEAST of a package that was also Jake Marisnick, Francis Martes, and a pick that turned into Daz Cameron. There’s already a 90% chance that Astros fans will look back on this as “the Martes deal”.

Contract Status:

Moran has two option years remaining.

Why Am I Here?

At the time of the trade, Moran was viewed as the third baseman of the future. Now he is buried on the depth chart while the Astros hope for his long-forecast power to arrive.

What Are My Strengths?

Moran plays a respectable third base – the whispers that he would need to move across the diamond have mostly vanished. He is also reputed to be a very good contact hitter, but hitting .259 at AAA doesn’t exactly scream “Tony Gwynn.”

What Are My Weaknesses?

That long-forecast power? It still hasn’t arrived. Moran’s peak in the minors was a .459 SLG at AA that included only 9 HR. Last year, he posted a .259/.329/.368 line at AAA. That type of hitting at third base not only doesn’t scream “hot prospect” – it screams “if you do it again this year, JD Davis is taking your job.”

Loves to hit: Nothing evident yet.

Hates to hit: SMALL SAMPLE SIZE ALERT: Moran saw 36 fastballs in the majors, resulting in zero hits.

What is my future with the Astros?

Unless he posts a massive spike in hitting, Moran is trade bait. At best. The chances of him displacing both Bregman and Gurriel are virtually nil. Alas, my dream of his fan club called “Bunch of Morans” will never become a reality.

Best. Fans. In. Baseball.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Let’s go back to the fact that PECOTA attempts to forecast playing time. If Colin Moran gets 250 plate appearances in 2017, then either:

• something has happened to Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel, AND Tyler White – all of whom are ahead of him on the depth chart; OR
• Moran has had an unforeseen breakout of a season – in which case the forecast is wildly inaccurate.

Who else would I remind you of?

The last ex-Marlin-third-baseman-of-the-future, Matt Dominguez.