Hinch not basing catcher choice on starting pitcher
So far this season, starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel has pitched exclusively to newly acquired veteran catcher Brian McCann and Charlie Morton to Evan Gattis.
Keuchel (4-0, 1.22 ERA) has looked like the southpaw ace who won the 2015 CY Young award, but Astros manager A.J. Hinch insisted the pairings are not rigidly defined. He alluded to schedule changes. A rainout on April 16 in Oakland jostled the rotation.
“I’m not going to have the personal catcher every single time,” Hinch said before Friday’s game against the A’s, in which Gattis would receive Morton for the fifth time.
Unlike Keuchel, Morton (1-2, 4.29 ERA) consistently has labored in and out of jams in three of his four starts. Still, Hinch explained his choice for catcher depends more on lineup configurations.
“McCann’s going to catch Morton eventually,” Hinch said. “Keuchel is eventually, probably, going to have to pitch to Gattis.”
Both catchers have made Hinch “completely comfortable” picking either to start. They have hit similarly well through 22 games. Gattis, a fifthyear righty with more gap power than McCann, is hitting .289 with two home runs and 11 runs batted in. McCann, a lefthanded pull hitter, in his 13th season, is batting .279, with three home runs and 11 runs batted in.
Several teams in baseball likely would bat Gattis or McCann in the heart of their lineups because of their tape-measure shot capabilities. Hinch has the luxury of a deep lineup.
“That’s a great strength of ours to have,” Hinch said. “Two close to middle-of-the-order bats to choose from behind the plate.”
Thames once briefly an Astro
It’s now merely a footnote to the unique career path of one of baseball’s most interesting players. But before he left the United States and reinvented himself in South Korea, Milwaukee Brewers slugger and April sensation Eric Thames was actually a member of the Astros.
Thames, the talk of MLB after mashing 11 home runs in his first 21 games this season, spent two months on the Astros’ 40-man roster late in 2013. A seventh-round pick of Toronto’s in 2008, the lefthanded-hitting outfielder/first baseman had already bounced around from the Blue Jays to the Mariners to the Orioles when the then soon-to-be 105-loss Astros claimed him off waivers on Sept. 5, 2013.
Upon his acquisition the Astros assigned Thames to Class AAA, the level he’d played at all season with Seattle and then Baltimore. The Astros’ Pacific Coast League affiliate’s season ended only a day after the claim, so Thames never even appeared in an official game in the organization. On Dec. 9 he was released so he could pursue an opportunity with the NC Dinos in the Korea Baseball Organization.
“I remember scouting him at Pepperdine many years ago, and we watched him through the system and all of that,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said this week. “(Brewers GM David) Stearns was here at the time (as the Astros’ assistant GM), and we were looking for some extra guys, sort of ‘Four-A’ guys, and he sort of fit the ball. And then we decided that we didn’t necessarily need him and that’s when he’d have a better opportunity in Korea, so we let him pursue that.
“But I don’t think any of us saw the transformation that occurred after that. I mean, he was a good player to have, (a player) to take a chance on, a Triple-A guy who may be able to fill in in the big leagues. But I certainly didn’t see what he would become.”
Who could have? Thames had a career .250/.296/.431 line with 21 home runs in 684 plate appearances over 181 major league games at the time the Astros added him as inventory. After three seasons starring in Korea, he returned to the U.S. and last winter as a 30-year-old inked a threeyear, $16-million deal with the Brewers. He came into this weekend slugging an astronomical .904 through 90 plate appearances.
Odds and ends
Manager A.J. Hinch said he hopes outfielder Jake Marisnick will return from his stint on the seven-day disabled list for a concussion on Monday. Hinch may let Marisnick hit this weekend. …
Hinch said reliever Jandel Gustave, who is on the 10-day disabled list with right forearm tightness, will have his timeline re-evaluated after throwing a bullpen. …
In his first game back since colliding with outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, second baseman Jose Altuve went 0-for-4 with a walk and one run scored in Friday’s 9-4 win. Hinch did not have an update for Hernandez, who has not done baseball activities since suffering a bruised left knee. …
Designated hitter Carlos Beltrán needs one extra-base hit to tie Pete Rose for third place all-time among switchhitters.