Plate and State: There's No Place Like Home
Things are a little down in H-Town right now, as the Houston Astros' currently sit in 4th place in the AL West division with an early 3-6 record. The pitching seems to be shaky, and the lineup has maken some costly base running errors. What's worse, is in his debut on Tuesday, your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis went 0-for-4 with a trio of strikeouts.
But folks in Houston and around the country need not fret yet, as it is still only the first week and a half of the season, and there are still 153 games left to play. Plenty of time to improve and take the lead back from the likes of those dreaded Halos, the Los Angeles Angels. Skipper A.J. Hinch is already reworking the battle plans to make this team soar back up to the heights we know they can reach. Among these strategies being reworked is whom is behind the dish.
ENTER EVAN GATTIS!
Evidence has surfaced of the Astros re-grooming El Oso Blanco back into the role of catcher. You know, the position he was born to play? But somehow, was marketed off to the AL by the Atlanta Braves just because of his bat? Well, as fate would have it, he will soon be taking on that job again.
Now Astros fans, before you get all up in arms at the very thought of this, let me, as a former Braves fan, fill you in on exactly why the Braves were so quick to dump Evan. Despite what the headlines may tell you, Evan was still very decent and serviceable behind the dish. But in the wake of the fire sale that particular organization was in the midst of, they wanted to call up a so-called defensive gem by the name of Christian Bethancourt. (Google him, if you don't know who I'm talking about.)
The only particular quality of catching that Bethancourt surpassed Gattis in was throwing out would be base thieves. Granted, that is a key quality for a catcher to have. But by the numbers: Gattis' CS (caught stealing) ratio: 24%; Bethancourt: 38%. Not that much of a difference, but apparently enough to send that organization scrambling. Let's dig a little further now, shall we?
In the two seasons with the Braves, Gattis' catcher ERA was 3.32. In one season, Bethancourt tallied a catcher ERA all the way up at 4.23. Not to mention that, similar to what Castro is doing now, Bethancourt has had not a single thing to offer in the way of a bat. In 2015 with the Braves, he hit a mere .204 with an OPS of .523. Gattis averaged .253 in his two seasons with an OPS of .789. Gattis was clearly the better all around catcher with offensive pop, yet they went with Bethancourt as the supposed "Catcher of the Future" for that organization. A lot of fat good that did them, as Bethancourt has since been traded to the San Diego Padres, serving only as a backup catcher to Derek Norris.
So believe me when I say, Astros fans, that the re-grooming of Evan behind the dish will be an EXTREMELY good thing for this club on all levels. It becomes more and more evident each passing day that Castro will be gone to FA next season, if he is not traded before then. With that in mind, having Gattis as that catching option will do wonders. It will then free up for him to occasionally spot Tucker, whom can be moved to full time DH. At that point, everyone can be happy. Once and for all, Gattis fans and Tucker fans can both lay down their swords and stop the fighting. I include myself among them.
And don't think I didn't forget about Duffy, Moran, Bergman and Reed. Those fellas will get their shot. But even having them down in the minors will work wonders in the event of injury. Some fans out there just really need to stop being vein and impatient about wanting them to play full time. They will all get to that point. Even if not for the Astros, they will somewhere. In general, with all of these loses and reworking of things, spacemen fans need fear not!
Sidebar: There was a comment of Evan's that did get some heat thrown at him on social media. All of it coming courtesy of Brian T Smith of the Houston Chronicle:
I happen to think, personally, that there are good things about all of the quad cities of Texas. (Including even Austin and San Antonio) Granted, I've only lived in the great state of Texas for a little over 3 months, but I think it's safe to say that there are plenty of pros and cons to wherever you happen to live in this awesome country of ours. So let's not let a comment like this get to our heads.
Instead, let's celebrate the fact that good things are about to happen on all fronts for these Houston Astros. I can feel it. It may not seem like it now, but it's coming! In the meantime, enjoy these pics of Evan Gattis doing catching drills!:
Photo Credits: Karen Warren and Angel Verdejo Jr. of The Houston Chronicle
Gotta love that last pic of him practicing with Biggio. This signals great things for the club!!!!
But folks in Houston and around the country need not fret yet, as it is still only the first week and a half of the season, and there are still 153 games left to play. Plenty of time to improve and take the lead back from the likes of those dreaded Halos, the Los Angeles Angels. Skipper A.J. Hinch is already reworking the battle plans to make this team soar back up to the heights we know they can reach. Among these strategies being reworked is whom is behind the dish.
ENTER EVAN GATTIS!
Evidence has surfaced of the Astros re-grooming El Oso Blanco back into the role of catcher. You know, the position he was born to play? But somehow, was marketed off to the AL by the Atlanta Braves just because of his bat? Well, as fate would have it, he will soon be taking on that job again.
Now Astros fans, before you get all up in arms at the very thought of this, let me, as a former Braves fan, fill you in on exactly why the Braves were so quick to dump Evan. Despite what the headlines may tell you, Evan was still very decent and serviceable behind the dish. But in the wake of the fire sale that particular organization was in the midst of, they wanted to call up a so-called defensive gem by the name of Christian Bethancourt. (Google him, if you don't know who I'm talking about.)
The only particular quality of catching that Bethancourt surpassed Gattis in was throwing out would be base thieves. Granted, that is a key quality for a catcher to have. But by the numbers: Gattis' CS (caught stealing) ratio: 24%; Bethancourt: 38%. Not that much of a difference, but apparently enough to send that organization scrambling. Let's dig a little further now, shall we?
In the two seasons with the Braves, Gattis' catcher ERA was 3.32. In one season, Bethancourt tallied a catcher ERA all the way up at 4.23. Not to mention that, similar to what Castro is doing now, Bethancourt has had not a single thing to offer in the way of a bat. In 2015 with the Braves, he hit a mere .204 with an OPS of .523. Gattis averaged .253 in his two seasons with an OPS of .789. Gattis was clearly the better all around catcher with offensive pop, yet they went with Bethancourt as the supposed "Catcher of the Future" for that organization. A lot of fat good that did them, as Bethancourt has since been traded to the San Diego Padres, serving only as a backup catcher to Derek Norris.
So believe me when I say, Astros fans, that the re-grooming of Evan behind the dish will be an EXTREMELY good thing for this club on all levels. It becomes more and more evident each passing day that Castro will be gone to FA next season, if he is not traded before then. With that in mind, having Gattis as that catching option will do wonders. It will then free up for him to occasionally spot Tucker, whom can be moved to full time DH. At that point, everyone can be happy. Once and for all, Gattis fans and Tucker fans can both lay down their swords and stop the fighting. I include myself among them.
And don't think I didn't forget about Duffy, Moran, Bergman and Reed. Those fellas will get their shot. But even having them down in the minors will work wonders in the event of injury. Some fans out there just really need to stop being vein and impatient about wanting them to play full time. They will all get to that point. Even if not for the Astros, they will somewhere. In general, with all of these loses and reworking of things, spacemen fans need fear not!
Sidebar: There was a comment of Evan's that did get some heat thrown at him on social media. All of it coming courtesy of Brian T Smith of the Houston Chronicle:
Okay folks, let's not take this out of context. Especially, you DFW folks because I live with you here. I'm pretty sure Evan was meaning there are SOME things about Dallas that suck, like the traffic, weather, etc. But that's something that we can all agree on. Even the Gattis family would agree, as I'm sure they too understand where Evan was coming from with that comment.Dallas-born Evan Gattis really loves living in Houston. How much? "Now I'm like, yeah, you're kind of right: Dallas does kind of suck."— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) April 12, 2016
I happen to think, personally, that there are good things about all of the quad cities of Texas. (Including even Austin and San Antonio) Granted, I've only lived in the great state of Texas for a little over 3 months, but I think it's safe to say that there are plenty of pros and cons to wherever you happen to live in this awesome country of ours. So let's not let a comment like this get to our heads.
Instead, let's celebrate the fact that good things are about to happen on all fronts for these Houston Astros. I can feel it. It may not seem like it now, but it's coming! In the meantime, enjoy these pics of Evan Gattis doing catching drills!:
Photo Credits: Karen Warren and Angel Verdejo Jr. of The Houston Chronicle
Gotta love that last pic of him practicing with Biggio. This signals great things for the club!!!!
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