McHugh set for first Grapefruit game
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Collin McHugh will pitch in his first Grapefruit League game of the spring on Monday, but the Astros still expect him to begin the season on the 10-day disabled list.
McHugh, who was delayed early in spring training by “dead arm,” is scheduled to log three or four innings in Monday night’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The 29-year-old righthander made his first two spring outings in minor league games, pitching two and three innings, respectively.
“I’m still anticipating him not being ready for the season,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said on Saturday.
McHugh could stay in Florida to pitch in an additional minor league game after the Astros’ break camp Wednesday. He likely will need one or two starts on an official rehab assignment before he has built his arm up enough to debut in the regular season.
Monday’s start should provide a better gauge as to the pitcher’s progress. His fastball sat in the 87 to 89 mph range in his last minor league outing.
“I think it will increase his intensity,” Hinch said. “I think any time you get into the stadium, it’s just different than the back fields. So we’ll get a little bit of a better reading on where his readiness is. He’s still a couple sessions behind. But we hope that the night game in the stadium will give us a better baseline as to where he’s at.”
Keuchel ready for final tuneup
Dallas Keuchel will start Tuesday against the Miami Marlins at Jupiter, the Astros lefthander’s final tuneup before opening day on April 3.
Keuchel’s third consecutive opening-day start will come on five days’ rest. He has allowed two earned runs and nine hits in 12 innings this spring.
Manager A.J. Hinch has yet to decide which order Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton will start in the second and third games of the regular season.
McCullers will start Thursday night’s exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs, which would leave him on normal, four days’ rest for the second game of the season or five days’ rest for the third game of the season. Morton will make his final spring start in a minor league game Wednesday, so he would be on five days’ rest for the second game of the season or six days’ rest for the third game.
Joe Musgrove will start Friday afternoon’s exhibition game, so he could pitch on five days’ rest in the fourth game of the regular season or six days’ rest in the fifth. Mike Fiers will make his last spring start in the Astros’ Grapefruit League finale on Wednesday, so in any scenario he will have the longest layoff of the starters before his regular-season debut.
Correa wishes for more WBC
Describing his World Baseball Classic experience as “the most fun I’ve had playing baseball in my short career,” Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said he wishes the quadrennial tournament were played more often.
“I’ll do it every two years,” he said Saturday upon his return to Astros’ spring training, adding he’ll represent his native Puerto Rico any opportunity he gets. “I wish it was every two years.”
Although Correa was expected to return to the Astros’ lineup Saturday, manager A.J. Hinch held him out because of sickness. Correa said he came down with a cough in recent days and hadn’t slept well because of it.
He could return to the lineup as early as Sunday.
“I felt pretty good with my approach during the baseball classic,” said Correa, who batted .333 (8-for-24) with three home runs in helping Puerto Rico to its runnerup finish. “I had some pretty good at-bats.
“It was a great tournament overall, I feel like. It was so much fun, man. It’s a whole different experience going from playing the World Baseball Classic and coming back to spring training. I wish I would’ve gone straight to the season.”
Riefenhauser out as 4 reassigned
The Astros released lefthanded relief pitcher C.J. Riefenhauser and reassigned four other players to minor league camp.
Riefenhauser, 27, who was invited to major league spring training as a nonroster invitee, allowed only two earned runs in 72⁄3 Grapefruit League innings but issued seven walks. He was signed to a minor league deal in early December for depth in Class AAA.
“We took a good, long look at him and then we just stayed relatively healthy and the opportunities ran out,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “As a group — the player development staff, the front office — (we) determined where our depth was and where the opportunities are going to come.
“We want to give him a week to latch on with somebody different and hopefully find a landing spot for him. He did everything that we asked. He had a few nice adjustments that he made, but given the health of where we are in Triple A, his opportunity ran out.”
Riefenhauser spent most of last season in the Chicago Cubs’ system. He has a 6.30 ERA in 20 career major league innings with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014 and 2015.
Lefthanded relief remains a deficiency for the Astros, who are poised to have righthander Chris Devenski as their top option to face lefthanded batters out of the bullpen. Tony Sipp, coming off a career-worst season but under contract for two more years and a guaranteed $12 million, has yet to show signs of an impend- ing bounce-back.
The Astros also reassigned righthanders Jordan Jankowski and Tyson Perez and outfielders Jon Kemmer and Alejando Garcia to minor league camp.
Catcher Juan Centeno and outfielder Derek Fisher will stay with the major league club through the end of camp Wednesday before heading to Class AAA Fresno. Third baseman J.D. Davis and utility infielder Reid Brignac will accompany the Astros to Houston for Thursday’s and Friday’s exhibition games before being reassigned.
Odds and ends
Manager A.J. Hinch would not commit to Alex Bregman as his No. 2 hitter, but all indications are that will be the case for the April 3 season opener against Seattle. The other option — the lefthandedhitting Josh Reddick — is batting .200 and without an extra-base hit in 45 at-bats on the spring. … Lance McCullers allowed four runs and six hits over only 31⁄3 innings despite throwing 83 pitches in his final Grapefruit League start against Washington on Saturday. The 23-yearold righthander struck out four but hit two batters and also threw a wild pitch.
Jake Kaplan