Who Am I?

Alex Bregman

Infielder

Age: 22

Height: 6′ 0″

Weight: 180

Bats right, throws right

How Did I Get Here?

Bregman was the second overall selection of the 2015 draft – a draft pick that the Astros received as compensation for their failure to sign Brady Aiken with the 2014 draft’s first overall selection. (So if you want to think of Bregman as, effectively, the Astros’ 2014 pick, I wouldn’t argue with you.)

Bregman was added to the 40-man roster and called up in July 2016.

Contract Status: Bregman still has three option years remaining and will not be eligible for arbitration until 2020.

Why Am I Here?

Bregman can play either spot on the left side of the infield, and is slated to be the Astros’ third baseman (and, barring surprises, second hitter).

What Are My Strengths?

Bregman is a gifted, polished hitter – as evidenced by his move from college to the majors in only one year. He displayed surprising power upon his arrival – if you look at his last 39 games, once he broke out of his initial slump, he hit 13 doubles and 8 homers; that would translate to 55 doubles and 34 homers over a full season.

What Are My Weaknesses?

Bregman has a slightly below-average arm for third, and his footwork appeared to get away from him a few times; this may be a result of the transition from short to third.

Bregman also has less speed than I would have expected from someone of his size.

Loves to hit: The first pitch. Bregman put the first pitch in play 34 times for a .455/.441/.818 line (there was one sacrifice fly.) It will be interesting to see if Bregman adopts a more patient approach as pitchers adjust to him.

Hates to hit: Sliders. Bregman went only 3 for 34 (2 singles, 1 double) against the slider.

What is my future with the Astros?

It would be easy to say that Bregman is the Astros’ third baseman of the future. He certainly looks like he can handle it defensively, and his bat seems good enough. I don’t think it is that simple.

First of all, the Astros already spent over $40 million on someone they thought would be their third baseman of the future – Yuli Gurriel. Neither of them have even half a season in the majors, so it’s premature to say that either one has the job locked down.

Secondly, many people have long predicted that Carlos Correa will need to move to third base. If Bregman can handle short, you might see the two switch places.

But most importantly – a player who CAN play shortstop, but is NOT playing shortstop, is potentially more valuable to other teams than to this team. With a front office that is willing to quantify everything possible, it hardly seems out of the question that Bregman could be included in a trade – more than likely, for a front-line starting pitcher.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

As a hot infield prospect who immediately changed positions upon coming to the majors, I’m reminded a bit of Brett Lawrie.

Who Am I?

Jose Altuve

Second baseman

Age: 26

Height: 5′ 6″

Weight: 165

Bats right, throws right

How Did I Get Here?

Altuve was signed by the Astros as an international free agent in 2007, and debuted with the big club in 2011.

Contract Status:

Altuve has easily the biggest bargain contract (for those eligible for arbitration) in the majors. It’s not even close. Altuve will earn $4.5M this season, and the Astros have team options for 2018 and 2019 at $6M and $6.5M, respectively. It’s such a no-brainer to exercise that option that FanGraphs ran a column examining how bad Altuve would have to be in 2017 for the Astros not to exercise his option. Their conclusion? It would take the worst season in major league history – not just offensively, but running and defensively as well.

That takes care of Altuve through 2019. However, he just switched agents to one Mr. Scott Boras. Let’s fast forward to the offices of Scott Boras in 2019:

Why Am I Here?

Altuve will play second base, likely bat third, and hopefully mount another serious challenge to Mike Trout as the American League’s Most Valuable Player.

Think back to when Altuve debuted, in 2011. Back then, he was a novelty act. “Oh, the Astros are bringing up a cute little midget at second? I wonder who will replace him when they’re actually competitive?”

Now look back at his vitals above. The height is no longer what jumps out to this writer. No, the amazing thing to see is this:

Age: 26

Yes, Jose Altuve is entering his age 27 season – the season when hitters supposedly reach their peak. And all he’s accomplished in his 5 full seasons is:

• 4 All Star appearances
• 3 Silver Sluggers (all ENTIRELY deserved)
• 3 seasons receiving MVP votes, peaking in a third place finish last season that might have turned into a win if the pitching staff had done its part to make the playoffs
• 3 seasons leading the league in hits
• Oh… and he’s a career .311 hitter.

What Are My Strengths?

Altuve started out with a plus hit tool, and has expanded that to being a complete player. His uncanny ability to make contact will always stand out, but at this point, his greatest strength is his willingness to work on individual facets of his game to make the move from good to great, and great to… who knows. Last year, it was improving his pitch selection; his previous career high was 40 walks, and that jumped to 60.

What Are My Weaknesses?

Honest to goodness, this isn’t a short joke, just a fact of life: Altuve is never going to have great range at second.

Loves to hit: The obvious answer is “everything”, and it’s really true – Altuve didn’t slug less than .382 against any pitch last year. But specifically, Altuve is a fastball hitter. In 2016, Altuve hit .374 and slugged .657 against the fastball; he recorded just 34 swings-and-misses in 865 fastballs he faced.

Hates to hit: Curveballs. Altuve hit only .220 against the curve in 2016… but then again, he slugged .439. Most hitters would put that on the plus side of the ledger. For Altuve, he probably programmed a pitching machine to throw him a thousand curveballs every day in the offseason.

What is my future with the Astros?

I cannot bring myself to envision Altuve leaving the Astros when his contract is up. This will be THE defining negotiation of the Crane/Luhnow tandem. Yes, Scott Boras is going to make us all cringe. Yes, the dollars will seem ungodly. But Crane and Luhnow will need to get the deal done. Why?

Because the bottom line is, Houston just saw its first player inducted to the Hall of Fame. A guy that plenty of people didn’t think could play second base, or turn in to the player he did… and a guy for whom, we now forget, it was a very open question whether he would remain in Houston as he was about to reach free agency.

And it may seem borderline sacrilege – hell, it may get me kicked out of bed tonight – but we may be watching a second baseman who’s even better.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

Who Am I?

Max Stassi

Catcher

Age: 26

Height: 5′ 10″

Weight: 200

Bats right, throws right

How Did I Get Here?

Stassi was a 4th round pick by the A’s in 2009. He was then traded to Houston along with Brad Peacock and Chris Carter in exchange for Jed Lowrie and Fernando Rodriguez. He debuted with the Astros in 2013 and has had sips of espresso each season since.

Contract Status:

Stassi is out of options.

Why Am I Here?

Stassi is still on the 40-man just in case Gattis or McCann suffer an injury prior to Opening Day.

What are my strengths?

When he was drafted, and when the Astros acquired him, it appeared that Stassi would be a slugging catcher. Stassi hit .277 with 17 HR as a 22 year old in Corpus. Things looked good. Unfortunately…

What are my weaknesses?

… the hitting disappeared at AAA, where he has never cracked a .300 OBP or a .400 SLG.

Loves to hit: AA pitching.

Hates to hit: Any more advanced pitching.

What is my future with the Astros?

I hope he enjoyed the new Spring Training facility, because when the spring is over, he’s going on waivers. The only question is whether someone will claim him. That is almost entirely dependent on injuries across the league – he’s never shown enough for someone to take a flyer on him as a prospect at this point.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

The band you heard in college that you really, really thought was going to make it big. I know… you can’t remember their names any more. Such is the way of life.

Who Am I?

Brian McCann

Catcher

Age: 33

Height: 6′ 3″

Weight: 225

Bats left, throws right (He’s a catcher… we’ll allow it.)

Nickname: “Fun Police”

How Did I Get Here?

McCann was originally drafted in the second round by Atlanta in 2002. He debuted in the majors at age 21 in 2005, and remained with the Braves through 2013. After this, he signed a 6 year, $100M contract with the Yankees. He was traded to Houston in November 2016 for Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman.

Contract Status: McCann will earn $17M this season and next, although the Yankees are paying $5.5M of this in each season. McCann has a $15M team option for 2019, when he will be 35, that vests automatically if all of the following occur:

1. McCann has 1,000 total plate appearances between 2017 and 2018;
2. He catches 90 games in 2018; and
3. He is not on the disabled list at the end of the 2018 season.

Why Am I Here?

Despite all of the positive remarks about Evan Gattis’s catching prowess, let’s be clear: McCann is the team’s primary catcher. Management decided that McCann’s hitting was worth at least $3M/year, and a couple of live arms, more than Jason Castro’s decided lack of hitting.

What are my strengths?

McCann has 6 Silver Slugger awards on his shelf, so let’s start with his bat. (Well, I assume they’re on a shelf of some sort. Maybe a display case. Or maybe when you start getting that many Silver Sluggers, you start sharing them with family. I’m really not sure.) McCann has always shown a good eye – he draws 50-55 walks a year. He also hits home runs like clockwork; in 11 full seasons, his career high is 26 and his career low is 18.

Behind the plate, McCann took a lot of flak in 2015 for his defense with the Yankees. But in 2016, he posted the best figures in the league according to BP’s pitch-blocking metrics, and he appeared to be a pretty good framer.

What are my weaknesses?

McCann is a dead-pull lefty – the kind you’ll expect to see a lot of shifts against. Unfortunately, this means you won’t expect to see a lot of benefit from the Crawford Boxes. Behind the plate, he’s below average with his arm. On the bases… well, there’s slow, there’s catcher slow, there’s molasses, and then there’s Brian McCann.

Lastly, there’s no way around this. On the field, at least, Brian McCann is an asshole.

McCann blocks home plate – on a home run

That’s just a sampling of the attitude that has earned McCann the badge of the game’s foremost “fun police.” At least Bregman may get along well with him.

Loves to hit: Changeups. McCann went 22 for 53 with a .660 SLG against the change in 2016.

Hates to hit: Inside pitches. Last year on pitches on the inside third of the zone, or beyond, he hit less than .150. This was a new trend in 2016, so it’s worth watching whether his bat speed has slowed such that he just can’t get around when busted inside any more.

What is my future with the Astros?

That’s a pretty rich contract to say that McCann will be anything other than your starting catcher for at least the next two seasons… and barring injury, that option looks likely to vest. Whether it will be a good price for a 35-year old catcher is very much up in the air.

What is my projected 2017 performance? 

For the first time, I feel the need to call out Baseball Prospectus on their projections. As I have indicated previously, BP tries to forecast playing time in their projections, whereas FanGraphs does not in ZIPS. Despite this, PECOTA actually shows more plate appearances for McCann than ZIPS does.

That in and of itself seems a little strange. But 595 plate appearances?? In his 12-year major league career, Brian McCann has made 595 plate appearances exactly ZERO times. His career high is 573, back in 2008, which is THREE Presidents ago. Mix in the fact that there are plenty of other DH options when Gattis is behind the plate, and I feel highly confident that McCann comes nowhere near 595 plate appearances.

Who else would I remind you of?

Another pain-in-the-ass Brave whose bat masked that he was better behind the plate than you probably wanted to recognize, Javy Lopez.

Who Am I?

Evan Gattis

Catcher

Age: 30

Height: 6′ 4″

Weight: 270 (Do YOU want to run into a 270 pound catcher at the plate??)

Bats right, throws right

How Did I Get Here?

James Evan Gattis is undoubtedly the finest product of UT-Permian Basin to ever don an Astro uniform. He was a 23rd round pick by the Braves in 2010, and was acquired by the Astros, along with James Hoyt, in exchange for Andrew Thurman, Mike Foltynewicz, and Rio Ruiz.

Contract Status:

Gattis is in the second year of a two year contract, and will earn $5.2M this season, but also has one year of arbitration eligibility remaining.

Why Am I Here?

To say that Gattis is the backup catcher would misrepresent his role. First, Astros skipper AJ Hinch has already indicated that Gattis will catch more frequently than most backup catchers. Second, Gattis will have plenty of opportunities to DH when not catching, especially if Hinch still plans to give Carlos Beltran 30-40 starts in the outfield. Of course, if Gattis continues to show the extreme levels of splits between catching and DH’ing, then sticking with a platoon may make more sense:

2016 as DH: .219/.298/.410

2016 as C: .295/.345/.647

What are my strengths?

Well, let’s face facts – El Oso Blanco’s primary value lies in his bat. (You don’t acquire a catcher and then spend a year and a half shuffling him to left field and DH if you think he’s the next Squatting Molina.) Gattis is a big, burly man who can hit the ball really hard. And last year, he started becoming more selective about which of those pitches to swing at, and the result was career highs across his split lines.

But something funny happened on the way to the designated hitter spot: Gattis turned out to be at least not-so-bad behind the plate. He was a good receiver, pretty decent at framing pitches, and respectable in throwing out baserunners.

What are my weaknesses?

Behind the plate, Gattis still struggles to block balls in the dirt. His history of back problems also keeps him largely ruled out as the primary catcher.

At the plate, Gattis struggles to mash against right handers – his career SLG is 32 points lower against righties than lefties, and that spiked to a 67 point difference last season.

Loves to hit:

Sinkers. Gattis put 35 sinkers into play last season, and rung up 13 hits and 6 HR on those swings.

Hates to hit:

Curveballs. Out of 40 curves put into play, Gattis recorded only 5 hits – but at least 3 of those were homers!

What is my future with the Astros?

Gattis is in an interesting spot. He’s not exactly young, at 30, but doesn’t have many baseball years or catching mileage on him. He has only one year of club control after this, but the Astros don’t exactly have a lot of catching prospects beating down the door to the majors. I’d guess that Luhnow sits down with Oso to work out a 3-4 year deal this offseason.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

If Cliff Johnson had been about 50 pounds heavier, I think you’d have a real close match.

Who Am I?

Ashur Tolliver

LHP

Age: 29

Height: 6′ 0″

Weight: 170 (Theory: this is meant to make him harder to hit by the fact that he disappears when he turns sideways to the hitter.)

Throws left, bats left

How Did I Get Here?

Tolliver was a 5th round pick by Baltimore in 2009. He was claimed by the Angels off waivers in September 2016, following 5 appearances with the big league club in 2016. He was then claimed by the Astros off waivers in December 2016.

Contract Status: Tolliver has two option years remaining and will not be eligible for arbitration until at least 2020.

Why Am I Here?

With the release of Kevin Chapman, Tolliver becomes the only left-handed relief option in the bullpen should Sipp falter or suffer an injury.

What are my strengths?

Tolliver features a live fastball that can touch 95 on occasion. He throws this fastball with his left hand. Such pitchers are not common. He also does not appear to be especially wild, based on his relatively low walk rates in the minors.

What are my weaknesses?

Tolliver does not appear to have developed much of a repertoire beyond that fastball. He occasionally flashed a slider and change. But honestly, if a lefty who throws 95 with a relative idea of where he was throwing it had even one other quality pitch, he wouldn’t have been waived twice before running out of option years.

What is my future with the Astros?

Absent getting an opportunity to shine in Sipp’s absence, and somehow outperforming all expectations, Tolliver’s time with the Astros will come to a close as soon as the 40-man roster spot is needed.

What is my projected 2017 performance?

Who else would I remind you of?

I just still can’t get over his build.