Hinch would welcome playing abroad
After learning that MLB has scheduled games in 2019 to be played in Tokyo and London, manager A.J. Hinch wants the Astros to be in the mix for future chances abroad. “I would love us to be up on the list of playing internationally,” he said. “Our guys would love it.”
The Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners will play two games March 20-21 at the Tokyo Dome. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will play two games June 29-30 at London's Olympic Stadium.
The Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians played in Puerto Rico this season.
“I love it because our game is more and more international the more you look at it,” Hinch said. “We should have the best players in the world in this league. If you want that, you’ve got to expose yourself to as many areas of the world as you can.
“Obviously, travel is taxing,” he said. “But what a fun experience for everybody.”
Hinch gives Fisher a degree of slack
Despite Derek Fisher’s .170 batting average and meager production, Astros manager A.J. Hinch has not strongly considered sending the outfielder down to Class AAA.
“We haven’t talked a ton about it,” Hinch said.
Yankees ace Luis Severino made every Astros hitter look feeble in his 4-0 shutout on Wednesday. Fisher happened to be the subject of a popular GIF on Twitter: He froze on a 102 mph fastball that pinpointed the outside corner.
Before that 0-for-3, twostrikeout night, Fisher had batted .294 with a 1.093 OPS in six previous games.
He struck out in a pinch-hit appearance in Thursday’s 6-5 Astros loss. After staying in the game defensively, he was pinch-hit for with two outs in the ninth.
“Obviously, there are swings you remember,” Fisher said, referring to his whiffs, “but you also take some good pitches. I feel like one of those was (Wednesday) night. I was taking a lot of good pitches from a good pitcher, pitches that are chase pitches, and I was able to lay off. Those are things you remember and continue to build off of.”
Fisher’s indomitable positivity has contributed to his success more than his swing. Compared with the average major league player, Fisher is making
contact 13 percent less often and striking out twice as much.
When Fisher has made contact, he has struck the ball well. He leads the Astros with the highest average exit velocity.
“It doesn’t hurt, but it isn’t everything,” he said of his exit velocity. “If I can consistently do it, then I can consistently get the ball out of the infield or
away from somebody a little more quickly than others.”
The problem lies in his approach. He is not recognizing the best pitches to hit often enough.
“Early in the season, he was a little passive and trying to be a little perfect and trying to get too good a pitch to hit,” Hinch said. “That put him in some really bad counts. He would take some called third strikes. It was a little bit of a mess.
“He’s had a couple good games where he’s used the middle of the field a little more, used his hands a little more, not been so conscious of what he hits or where he hits it. Then he’ll fall back in the rut of being a little bit passive again.”
Hinch has platooned the speedy left fielder, but Fisher rose through the system because of his powerful lefthanded swing. Hinch expressed confidence that Fisher could learn from the failure as part of life in the majors.
“There’s a lot of things you have to learn at this level,” Hinch said. “There’s always consideration that you have to earn your time and earn your roster spot, but at the same time, the last part of development for a player has to be at the major league level. You have to be set up for him to get those at-bats and get that last bit of development.”
J.D. Davis (batting .389 with a 1.063 OPS) and Tyler White (.351 and 1.124) are on a tear for Class AAA Fresno.
“Sure, we have some guys at Triple-A that are going to perform and put some pressure on the guys who aren’t performing here,” Hinch said. “But we’re not at that point yet.”