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SS Jeremy Pena has already resumed throwing, and will begin swinging a bat this weekend: Pena has NOT been ruled out yet for Opening Day: UT Zach Dezenzo will be limited to DH duties for a little while: So far, there’s no structural issues with Dezenzo’s elbow: Manager Joe Espada intended to give his starters […]
The Houston Astros (10-10-3) travel to Jupiter to take on the St. Louis Cardinals (12-9-2) in Grapefruit League play. RHP J.P. France will make his fifth appearance, including his first start of the Grapefruit League this season. RHP Kyle Leahy will be on the mound for the Cardinals facing the Astros for the third time […]
Baseball season is back, and spring training is in full swing. With that, there has been opportunities for prospects to play with the Major League club and show what they can do. Below are some prospects that have stood out recently. Hitter – Walker Janek Janek was seen as the best defensive catcher in the 2024 […]
Mid March is a great time of year for any number of reasons, but it isn’t necessarily a great time for analysis. A regular commenter asked how I analyze spring numbers. The simple answer is I don’t. There are any number of reasons why. The most important reason is that the sample size is just […]
The Astros clobbered the Pirates earlier today 10-2, beating up on SP Mitch Keller. Keller has been a solid starter for the last 4 seasons. Lance McCullers Jr. had another encouraging start, this time going 4 innings. He allowed 1 run on 3 hits, walking 3 and striking out 1, with a hit batter. He […]
The latest updates on the Houston Astros from Spring Training: Cristian Javier continues to strengthen his arm and get ready for the regular season. His velocity, while still not as high as it was pre-injury, has improved from his last outing: Manager Joe Espada liked what he saw from Javier: Astros #1 prospect OF Kevin […]
As the calendar moves deeper into March, many baseball fans have found a welcome distraction in the World Baseball Classic. For Astros fans like me, it has been exactly that, a high-level brand of baseball played with passion and intensity at a time of year when we’re usually stuck parsing spring training box scores and […]
Sometimes when we go over numbers things get missed. In this case, there were a few arms that got left out of the conversation and I would be remiss if I didn’t at least address them as camp is coming to a close. Some of the names are names you are familiar with, but they […]
Astros manager Joe Espada was happy with what he saw from SP Ryan Weiss, as well as Isaac Paredes play at 2B: Yordan Alvarez hit his first HR of spring. He’s been heating up. Ryan Weiss would prefer to be a starter. He’s certainly pitched well enough to earn a shot. The Astros may not […]
The Houston Astros (8-10-3) host the Miami Marlins (8-10-2) in Grapefruit League play. RHP Cristian Javier is set to make his second start of the Grapefruit League. RHP Eury Perez will be on the mound for the Marlins. TODAY’S STARTER: RHP Cristian Javier is making his second start of the Grapefruit League this season. In […]
The Houston Astros (7-10-3) take on the New York Mets (10-7) in West Palm Beach in Grapefruit League play. RHP Ryan Weiss gets his first start of the Spring for Houston, opposed by RHP Freddy Peralta of New York. TONIGHT’S STARTER: Weiss is making his first start and third appearance of the Grapefruit League this season. In […]
In a recent post by MLB Pipeline, they made predictions for every farm system heading into the 2026 season, and their outlook for the Houston Astros system was fairly bullish. The Astros enter the 2026 season without a Top 100 prospect on Pipeline’s list for the third time in the last five years, but that doesn’t mean the […]
The Houston Astros (7-9-3) travel to Jupiter, FL to face the St. Louis Cardinals (10-8-1) in Grapefruit League play. RHP Kai-Wei Teng gets his first start of the Spring for Houston, opposed by RHP Kyle Leahy of St. Louis. TONIGHT’S STARTER: RHP Kai-Wei Teng is making his first start and fourth appearance this Spring and […]
We did this with the starters on Wednesday. We looked at six key numbers that can help us both explain why some pitchers succeed and some fail and hopefully help us predict progression or regression. Reliever numbers in particular are ver volatile. When you condense 180 innings into 50 or 60, you are going to […]
In an interview Thursday March 12, longtime MLB insider Bob Nightengale had some direct statements regarding his thoughts on the 2026 Houston Astros. Thursday, longtime MLB reporter and insider Bob Nightengale joined AREA 45 on Sportsradio 610. He had a lot of thoughts on the state of the Houston Astros heading into the 2026 season. […]
With the 2026 season opener two weeks away, most of the Astros’ Opening Day 26-man roster is coming into focus. A few spots, however, remain unsettled. After the signing of Christian Vázquez and the announcement that Josh Hader will start the season on the IL, here’s my second pass at how things could shake out: […]
The Law Firm of Brown, Burrows and Imai! We are so Back! The Houston Astros enter the season unlike any other in quite sometime. Astros fans don’t need a reminder of missing the Postseason in 2025. Also with a looming work stoppage and the CBA agreement set to expire Dec of this year. The time […]
The Houston Astros (7-8-3) host the Washington Nationals (10-4-3) in Grapefruit League action. RHP Mike Burrows will make the start for the Astros, opposed by RHP Jake Irvin for the Nationals. TONIGHT’S STARTER: RHP Mike Burrows, making his fourth start of the Spring, has been fantastic thus far, tossing 8.2 scoreless with 10 strikeouts, a […]
Tatsuya Imai said a small adjustment has helped him find more velocity this spring: SP Cristian Javier will be away from the team for a few days due to a personal matter: Brian McTaggart of MLB.com identifies 5 players he thinks have a good shot to make the Opening Day roster Lance McCullers Jr. on […]
Hader has missed most of Spring Training with biceps tendinitis. Houston Astros closer Josh Hader will begin the season on IL, according to a report by Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Hader, who missed the last 2 months on the 2025 season with a shoulder capsule strain, experienced biceps tendinitis while rehabbing and was shut down. […]
The Houston Astros (6-8-3) travel to Jupiter, FL to take on the Miami Marlins (6-9-1). RHP Tatsuya Imai will be on the mound for the Astros, opposite RHP Max Meyer for the Marlins. TODAY’S STARTER: RHP Tatsuya Imai is set to make his third start of the Grapefruit League. In his last start on March […]
Every analyst has their favorite metrics and mine are usually the ones that can be used for pitchers and hitters. Some of the numbers point more to luck and some of them are underlying numbers that can help explain why someone is good or not. When we use those kinds of reciprocal numbers then what […]
Things may be progressing well for Astros closer Josh Hader, according to this update from Brian McTaggart: While it should still be considered unlikely Hader would be ready Opening Day, this update does indicate that if Hader has to start the season on IL, he could potentially only miss the minimum required time. Having Hader […]
The Houston Astros (5-8-3) host the Baltimore Orioles (7-8-2) in Grapefruit League play. RHP Lance McCullers Jr. is set to start for the Astros, with RHP Levi Wells starting for the Orioles. TODAY’S STARTER: This is Lance McCullers Jr.’s second appearance of the spring. He previously pitched one shutout inning on Feb 27 vs. the […]
There’s some interesting decisions that have to be made. Where could the Astros be leaning as of today? This article updates my previous roster projection: https://www.crawfishboxes.com/houston-astros-analysis/72007/astros-2026-roster-and-depth-chart-projections-as-of-february-1 Let’s start with the rotation: Now, Arrighetti hasn’t been sharp, and his velocity hasn’t been consistent. He’s also only pitched twice, so there’s time. Weiss went 2.1 IP in […]