I Know What He Did Last Summer
The paraphrasing of the 90's horror film is only fitting for today's post. It seems far too often that, in the midst of feeling energized about the upcoming season for the Houston Astros, more articles and such come out to downplay your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis.
All of them seem to have come around as of late while Spring Training and Grapefruit League are well underway.
First, the organization announced it's promotion schedule today, which you can view for yourself here. It does include quite a bit of cool giveaways on it. The Lance McCullers glow-in-the-dark gnome is my favorite one. But for the first time since his rookie season, there will be no giveaways centered around El Oso Blanco. Quite upsetting, especially since I have the most wonderful idea about a shirt featuring him and his catching mate and wonder twin, Brian McCann. Take a look for yourselves, readers:
The second thing that has stressed me out recently are all the articles that have been written previewing the season. All across the internet, the same theme of the Big White Bear losing at-bats dominate the headlines. Including this article from USA Today about a 2017 Fantasy Baseball "All Avoid Team." and the quote in there about the catcher's spot:
What that publication fails to realize is that so many different things will happen throughout the season to help avoid this. McCann is probably tapped to get shy of 100 games at catcher, leaving Gattis the other 67-72 games to catch. Additionally, Carlos Beltran will still get about 30 games in the outfield to go with his roughly 100 or so as a DH.
This will free up around 60+ DH games for Gattis, and maybe a few sprinkled in for McCann, George Springer, Josh Reddick and Jose Altuve. All of this also hinges on player's overall health as well. Injuries will certainly open up more at-bats for Gattis, assuming he's not the one hurt. Already in Grapefruit League, he has served as DH twice, and came in late as a DH once. Gattis should be cleared to catch very soon.
Another article that really has me palming my face is this one from CBS Local Houston, where the intentions seemed good in talking about how the Houston Astros are in a great position to take it all in October. However, once again, the author had this to say about El Oso Blanco:
Which brings me to Evan Gattis, he’s fine to have on your team, he’s fine to catch a few games here and there, and he’s fine to DH a good chunk of games, but having Gattis behind the plate on a routine basis is frightening. Gattis receives pitches about as bad as anyone in baseball and it’s evident by the amount of breaking balls that pitchers fear to throw in the dirt when Gattis is behind the plate. McCann alleviates that concern, and for the Astros to win the World Series, he needs to stay healthy.
This is another example of someone that comes off as legit, but is clearly uneducated to the facts. As so many seem intent on wanting to forget, Evan had a 10 day crash course down in AA Corpus Christi last May. The fact that he was able to still put up serviceable to above average framing numbers, well above average numbers in throwing out runners, and hitting better while out defending in his natural position speaks so many volumes that it is still a wonder why no one has bothered to listen.
And while many memories out there seem to have a short fuse, mine isn't. I remember a lot. I have to as a journalist and screenwriter. Most people prefer having bad memories, but I don't. And with a second half, post All-Star Break offensive slash line of .288/.358/.594/.952 and single season records in home runs (32), OPS (.826) and walking percentage (8.6%), I know what Gattis did last summer. Even if others just want to forget.
First, the organization announced it's promotion schedule today, which you can view for yourself here. It does include quite a bit of cool giveaways on it. The Lance McCullers glow-in-the-dark gnome is my favorite one. But for the first time since his rookie season, there will be no giveaways centered around El Oso Blanco. Quite upsetting, especially since I have the most wonderful idea about a shirt featuring him and his catching mate and wonder twin, Brian McCann. Take a look for yourselves, readers:
Readers, I need you to help me spread this tweet around to give it some buzz. Please and thank you! If anyone in the Astros organization is out there reading this, especially if you have any ties to the marketing department or promotions team, I implore you to give this some consideration. Even if not for this season, perhaps even next season. This is a moniker/nickname that will stick with the fan base and generate multiple dollars in merchandise and ticket sales for you all. Please think it over, and thank you for considering!@astros Is it too late to show you a promotion idea I had featuring the catching duo of Brian McCann & Evan Gattis? #Astros #MLB 😉😎💯🐻💪⚾️🤔 pic.twitter.com/vGlNHYjED0— James I Zeankowski (@tvwizard85) February 28, 2017
The second thing that has stressed me out recently are all the articles that have been written previewing the season. All across the internet, the same theme of the Big White Bear losing at-bats dominate the headlines. Including this article from USA Today about a 2017 Fantasy Baseball "All Avoid Team." and the quote in there about the catcher's spot:
Fantasy owners know there will always be players at each position who can make or break a season by performing much better -- or much worse -- than expected. Here are the players whose skills have slipped to the point we'll let someone else draft them in 2017.
C Evan Gattis , Houston Astros : He set career highs with 32 homers and an .826 OPS in 2016, but is going to lose at-bats after the additions of Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran .
What that publication fails to realize is that so many different things will happen throughout the season to help avoid this. McCann is probably tapped to get shy of 100 games at catcher, leaving Gattis the other 67-72 games to catch. Additionally, Carlos Beltran will still get about 30 games in the outfield to go with his roughly 100 or so as a DH.
This will free up around 60+ DH games for Gattis, and maybe a few sprinkled in for McCann, George Springer, Josh Reddick and Jose Altuve. All of this also hinges on player's overall health as well. Injuries will certainly open up more at-bats for Gattis, assuming he's not the one hurt. Already in Grapefruit League, he has served as DH twice, and came in late as a DH once. Gattis should be cleared to catch very soon.
Another article that really has me palming my face is this one from CBS Local Houston, where the intentions seemed good in talking about how the Houston Astros are in a great position to take it all in October. However, once again, the author had this to say about El Oso Blanco:
Which brings me to Evan Gattis, he’s fine to have on your team, he’s fine to catch a few games here and there, and he’s fine to DH a good chunk of games, but having Gattis behind the plate on a routine basis is frightening. Gattis receives pitches about as bad as anyone in baseball and it’s evident by the amount of breaking balls that pitchers fear to throw in the dirt when Gattis is behind the plate. McCann alleviates that concern, and for the Astros to win the World Series, he needs to stay healthy.
This is another example of someone that comes off as legit, but is clearly uneducated to the facts. As so many seem intent on wanting to forget, Evan had a 10 day crash course down in AA Corpus Christi last May. The fact that he was able to still put up serviceable to above average framing numbers, well above average numbers in throwing out runners, and hitting better while out defending in his natural position speaks so many volumes that it is still a wonder why no one has bothered to listen.
And while many memories out there seem to have a short fuse, mine isn't. I remember a lot. I have to as a journalist and screenwriter. Most people prefer having bad memories, but I don't. And with a second half, post All-Star Break offensive slash line of .288/.358/.594/.952 and single season records in home runs (32), OPS (.826) and walking percentage (8.6%), I know what Gattis did last summer. Even if others just want to forget.
Original Photo Credit: Houston Astros on Twitter
Both of the combo of Bear Squared will factor in greatly for this team in 2017!!!!
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