Stassi fits right in
On the cusp of never getting this chance, Stassi finally earns a spot with Astros
Evan Gattis is crushing home runs.
Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole are leading the best rotation in baseball. Max Stassi is part of it all. Six seasons into an Astros career that was on the edge of being finished, Stassi playing a key role on Major League Baseball’s hottest team in mid-June says it all.
The fourth-round pick of the 2009 draft already had set career highs in games played (39), home runs (six), RBIs (18), hits (30) and at-bats (117), entering Saturday’s 10-2 victory at Kansas City.
Pick a personal stat — plate appearances, doubles, walks — and this season’s version of Stassi has topped it before July has even arrived.
“I know that I belong here and I’m going to stay here for the rest of my career,” said the 5-10, 200-pound Stassi, who played in 44 combined games and only recorded 20 hits from 2013-17 with the Astros. “I feel like now I know the right things I need to do to stay here.”
Trade pays off
Manager A.J. Hinch has continued to write Stassi’s name into the Astros’ lineup the year after the franchise’s first World Series championship. Stassi, 27, is treating his sixth pro season like his first — soak it all in, don’t take anything for granted — and has become the team’s 2018 version of 2017 Brad Peacock.
“I’m so happy for him. Me and him came over from the A’s and I got to know him in 2013,” said Peacock, who joined the Astros with Chris Carter and Stassi on Feb. 4, 2013, in a Jeff Luhnow trade that is still paying off in ’18, after Jed Lowrie and Fernando Rodriguez were shipped to Oakland. “To see it all click this year … he just finally found something that clicked for him and I’m happy for him.”
Highly respected veteran Brian McCann is the club’s primary catcher. But with Gattis locking in at designated hitter in 2018, Stassi has finally received the permanent shot he’d been searching for for almost a decade in pro ball.
“It’s been a goal of mine, ever since I was pretty much born, to play in the big leagues and be up here,” said Stassi, who went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer Saturday. “It was always something that I just had my mind set on and I wasn’t going to let anything affect that.”
Trust of the staff
The Astros saw a different Stassi before spring training began in West Palm Beach, Fla. When a collection of arms quietly arrived in early February, a sixth-year catcher with three MLB home runs to his name was waiting to catch everything. Those early warmup and bullpen sessions formed the foundation that now links Stassi with the best starting staff in the game.
“To tell you the truth, his receiving is just one of the best in the big leagues right now,” Peacock said. “It’s amazing.”
With four American League teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Astros, Mariners) within 2½ games of each other for the top record in baseball entering Saturday, Hinch’s club cannot afford a dropoff when McCann rests. Charlie Morton, Lance McCullers Jr., Dallas Keuchel, Verlander and Cole must have full faith in the glove that backs McCann.
In-depth video sessions and breaking down scouting reports allow Stassi to “go against the grain,” pushing the Astros’ elite arms just like McCann would. If there’s one word that captures Stassi’s increased role in 2018 and the California native finally sticking in The Show, it’s trust.
“It’s not about his swing, it’s not about his framing, it’s not about blocking balls,” Hinch said. “The No. 1 thing that’s increased his comfort in the big leagues and his importance in the big leagues is his development and relationship with his pitching staff. The starters all respect him, they know he’s prepared — he can guide them despite (having) less service time than virtually all of them.”
McCann teaches and passes the game on while he keeps taking the field in Year 14. Sinker-slider becomes four-seam curveball, which will become sinker-slider again.
“Baseball goes in waves where it’s constantly changing,” McCann said. “You’ve got to constantly change with it or you get left behind.”
Tough luck
Stassi’s dedication to an often thankless position has allowed him to seamlessly blend in inside a clubhouse that features Gattis, who has caught 241 games in his career, and Hinch, who caught 338 during his playing days.
“It’s one to make it to the big leagues and kind of get your cup of coffee or your first initial playing time,” Hinch said. “It’s another thing to have a defined role and then when that role increases, as you play well, you start to feel a little bit more like a big leaguer and you start to feel a little bit more established.”
Added McCann: “You look at what he’s doing this year and it’s been nothing short of remarkable.”
Random injuries, bad luck, poor timing and locked-in starters ( Jason Castro, McCann) held back Stassi from 2013-17.
He debuted with a 2-for-3 outing for Bo Porter’s Astros on Aug. 20, 2013 against the Texas Rangers in Arlington — a rebuilding team was 41-84 then — and was hit in the face by reliever Tanner Scheppers the next game.
Concussion, shoulder and wrist surgery; bouncing between Fresno and Corpus Christi, then randomly visiting Houston. Stassi’s lived a full baseball life, even though he has only played in the majors with one big-league team.
“The worst one for me was showing up to spring (training), when I first got traded, and I had a sports hernia,” Stassi said. “You show up, it’s my first new organization, and I show up and I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m hurt.’ ”
‘Every day means something’
Then there was a cold professional wake-up call that forced Stassi to make adjustments that led to his 2018 permanence.
“When I was put on waivers, it really was a time to reflect and look back,” he said. “‘Hey, there’s 29 other teams that don’t think you’re good enough to play in the big leagues right now.’ ”
The Astros believe in Stassi more than ever.
He isn’t just hanging around with a big-league team that needs an extra name for a few days.
The sixth-year Astro is forcing his way into the daily lineup on baseball’s reigning world champs.
“Every day means something,” Stassi said.