In The Baseball Book 1991, Bill James, examining the question of whether Nolan Ryan’s strikeout record would ever be broken, wrote, “Because more batters are using whip-handled bats, strikeout rates are still going up. They went down for several years, in the mid-seventies, but they’re going back up now, have been for several years.”
A little more than 10 years ago, 32-year-old Rickey Henderson was on top of the baseball world. Coming off an MVP season in 1990, Henderson, then with the Athletics, stole his 939th base on May 1, 1991, breaking Lou Brock’s career record. While Brock took 19 seasons and 1,245 attempts to set the mark, Henderson required slightly more than 12 seasons and 1,154 attempts to overtake it.
How did they do?
The Astros streaked out of the gate 8-3 but went 4-9 the rest of the way. The differences between the two halves of the month, particularly on the mound, are stark:
Dates R/G ERA --------------------- 4/03-4/15 5.64 3.83 4/16-4/30 5.15 6.47
The basepaths have treated the Astros unkindly so far this season. Through Sunday’s win against St. Louis the Astros had stolen seven bases in 14 attempts. Only time will tell whether they continue their lead-footedness, but last year indicated that the Astros no longer possessed the fleetness of past seasons.
You’d think having a surplus sweet-swinging outfielder would be a blessing, not a blight. Nonetheless, rightfielder Moises Alou’s return from the disabled list has raised discussion of how to solve the Astros’ “problem” of having too many corner outfielders of major-league caliber.
To the disappointment of many Astros fans, for a second consecutive season shortstop Adam Everett departed spring training headed for AAA New Orleans. His .130 batting average in exhibition games likely didn’t impress Astros management.
