Javier feels ‘good’ after Sunday start
JUPITER, Fla. — The last time Cristian Javier pitched, he did so in front of a raucous 31,696 fans in the World Baseball Classic. He threw in front of nearly 29,000 fewer fans Sunday, but still was happy with his performance in preparation for the regular season less than two weeks away.
In just his second Grapefruit League outing, Javier threw four innings, giving up three runs on five hits, striking out five and walking one in a 5-4 loss to the Marlins. Most importantly, the 25-year-old righthander threw 51 of his 76 pitches for strikes.
“All my pitches felt good today,” Javier said. “I did what I wanted to do, which was attack the strike zone with all my pitches.”
Javier’s velocity was down a bit from last year, but he said it wasn’t anything to worry about. His four-seam fastball topped out at 93 mph and averaged 91.4 after averaging 93.8 mph last season. The average speed of the slider also was down a tick.
“Everything’s normal,” Javier said. “That’s just the things that happen in a game. My arm feels good,”
Javier made just one outing in the spring before reporting to the World Baseball Classic in Miami to represent the Dominican Republic. In his one WBC start, he threw four shutout innings in a 6-1 win over Nicaragua, allowing just two hits and striking out four.
That means he’s had three appearances on the mound, which puts him one behind other starters in the rotation such as Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown. However, Astros manager Dusty Baker has said pitching in the intense environment provided by international competition should be good for Javier, who will make one more start this spring.
“It was a beautiful experience for me,” Javier said. “Being able to represent my country, having my family and my friends there, it was a great experience.”
Reddick says goodbye to game
Before an Astros-Yankees American League Championship game he was attending as a fan last October, Josh Reddick said he planned to call it a career as soon as he wrapped up a stint in the Australian Baseball League. He made it official late Saturday night with an Instagram post announcing his retirement.
“How do I even start to write about this?” he posted. “I didn’t think I’d be announcing this at 36 years old, but then again, I never imagined the ride I was going to be on for nearly 12 years. It is time for me to walk away from the game of baseball.”
In a career that spanned 13 seasons with five different teams, Reddick hit .262 with 146 home runs. His longest stint was 4½ years in Oakland, but his most memorable was with the Astros, who signed him to a four-year, $52 million contract before 2017.
He had one of the best years of his career in that first season, helping the Astros win their first World Series while hitting a career-best .314 with 13 homers and 82 RBIs. He was a fan favorite, with Houston supporters adopting his Ric Flair-like “Woo!” yell in his at-bats.
Reddick, whose time in Houston included his marriage to his wife, Jett, and the birth of their twin boys, thanked each big league team he played for, but saved his longest message for the Astros.
“To the Houston Astros, I am so thankful for you believing in me to sign me as a free agent and to have the chance to be a part of some teams that will be forever enshrined in baseball history,” Reddick wrote. “Winning a World Series will always top my list of career moments. To the fans, y’all welcomed me from Game 1 and helped me develop a staple of my career with the Woo! Movement. Being able to hear that every night by so many fans made me feel so special and pumped me up on a nightly basis. You all have treated my little family better than I could have ever asked for and Houston has become HOME for us because of the amazing four years we experienced with the Astros.”
Before signing with the Astros, Reddick spent a few months with the 2016 Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost to the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series. Since then, Reddick has gone backand-forth with some Dodgers fans on social media over the Astros’ 2017 title, which always draws heat in Los Angeles because of the signstealing scandal.
“I know we don’t get along nowadays, but I am grateful for my time spent in Dodger blue,” Reddick wrote to Dodgers fans in his farewell message.
Reddick played his last major league game in 2021 with the Diamondbacks. He attempted to keep his career alive by playing in the Mexican League last summer, hitting .293 with four home runs in 28 games. He went on to play 39 games in Australia, hitting .238 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs.
“So long, baseball,” Reddick wrote. “You were everything and so much more than this guy could have imagined. Time to pass the torch onto my boys who know nothing other than the baseball life.”