Better baserunning a priority
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Improving the Astros’ effectiveness running the bases will be a top priority in spring training, according to manager A.J. Hinch.
“We’re an aggressive team by nature and anytime you run into that approach, you’re going to run into a few outs, some of which I don’t mind. You never want to give away any outs, but it’s hard to have an aggressive team without putting pressure on the other team, and you’re going to run into some outs every now and then,” he said.
“We want to avoid the catastrophic mistakes we have made over the last couple of years with a little more attention to detail in the baserunning.”
Asked how they will go about improving in that area, Hinch joked, “We signed (Carlos) Beltran and he’s going to coach ’em up.”
“We’ve got to find some comfort in figuring out how to take the next 90 feet or how do we respond when another team takes that away?” Hinch said. “We see a tremendous amount of pitch-outs, we see a lot of slide steps. Our opponents are paying close attention to (Jose) Altuve and (George) Springer and (Jake) Marisnick, guys that steal a lot of bases.
“When that happens, we’ve got to find competitive edges to be smart base runners. We are always going to be an aggressive team and always run into outs. You don’t want the blatant ones that are obvious to all the people that are in the stands or watching the game, but it’s hard to be safe if you don’t try. We’ll always have that mindset, provided that we have the athleticism that we’ve been able to enjoy the last couple of years.”
Hauschild lost in Rule 5 Draft
For the second time in three Decembers, the Astros lost a player in the Rule 5 Draft to their intrastate rivals.
The Texas Rangers plucked righthander Mike Hauschild from the Astros’ Class AAA roster Thursday and plan to give him the opportunity to compete for the fifth spot in their rotation. If he does not stick on their major league roster for the entire season, Hauschild would be returned to the Astros.
Hauschild, 25, had a 3.22 ERA in 24 starts with Fresno last season, his second go-around in the Pacific Coast League. With the Rangers, he will be reunited with Doug Brocail, who before becoming Texas’ pitching coach held the same title with the Astros’ Class AA affiliate in 2015.
“We like the strikes and the forkball-like change. We’re going to let him compete for the fifth spot in the rotation, but he might also help in the bullpen,” said Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, who in the Rule 5 Draft two years ago selected outfielder Delino DeShields from the Astros.
“He’s durable. He gets a lot of ground balls. He was never considered a top prospect, but he’s matriculated through the system. He’s the kind of guy who gets overlooked.”
The Astros were ineligible to make any Rule 5 selections in the major league phase Thursday because their 40-man roster is full.
In the minor league portion, they took catcher Eduardo De Oleo from the Arizona Diamondbacks and knuckleballer Jared Mortensen from the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I don’t think we’re ever surprised when we lose a Rule 5 pick,” said Astros pro scouting director Kevin Goldstein, who runs the Rule 5 Draft for the team. “We’ve seen it happen before.
“It’s often unpredictable. Sometimes guys you expect go. Sometimes guys you don’t expect go. But Hauschild was a guy we probably had the longest discussion about when it came to the 40-man. We obviously were at 40, we’re at a roster crunch, and then this is one of the risks you take.”
In De Oleo, the Astros acquired catching depth for their minor league system. The 23-year-old Dominican figures to play next season in Class A or Class AA.
Mortensen, a 28-yearold righthander from Canada, should begin next season in either Class AAA or Class AA. He had a 5.23 ERA in 721⁄3 innings with Tampa Bay’s Class AA affiliate last season, striking out 10.7 batters per nine innings but also walking 7.1.