Biggio bedazzled by new ballpark
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — After hanging in the dugout with Jeff Bagwell and the Astros on Saturday, Craig Biggio returned Sunday to explore the Ballpark of Palm Beaches and laud the burgeoning crop of Astros stars.
Biggio was passing through on the way to see his son Cavan, a second baseman, play for the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla. He will return as a special instructor for a week starting March 17.
With the buzz for the young Astros players at a peak in 2017, a former Killer B drew an appealing comparison with his own crew.
“It’s really exciting when you look at our team and your core players: (Jose) Altuve ,( Carlos) Correa ,( Alex) Bregman, (George) Springer .It resembles a lot of the team we had back in the day, where the fans had Biggio, Bagwell, (Lance) Berkman and Moises Alou. It’s an exciting time.”
Biggio’s Florida base was Osceola County Stadium, which was built in 1984 to welcome the Astros to Kissimmee. He offered one word to describe the advantages of the new ballpark: “Everything.”
“This is amazing,” he said. “This is what it’s supposed to be. If you get rain, you’ve got the turf field. Cages are great. Stadium is incredible. The atmosphere is really good.”
Within his assessment, the Hall of Fame second baseman found a humorous chance to plug his Houston restaurant.
“I think Biggio’s might be the only thing that’s got more televisions than the clubhouse here,” he said. “It’s great. It’s first-class. … I’m not dogging Kissimmee. That was 30 years ago, and this is 30 years later. It’s state of the art.”
Correa homers for Puerto Rico
Carlos Correa continues to display his hitting power as Puerto Rico’s third baseman at the World Baseball Classic.
After hitting his first home run at the WBC on Friday against Venezuela, Correa slapped a threerun homer in Puerto Rico’s 9-3 win over Italy on Sunday at Zapopan, Mexico. Correa, who puncutated his homer with a glorious bat flip, went 1-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout.
Puerto Rico scored 29 runs in going 3-0 in Pool D. Correa and Astros teammate Carlos Beltran drove in nine of those runs.
Odds and ends
Collin McHugh, who is recovering from a dead arm, will throw live BP on Monday or Tuesday, according to manager A.J. Hinch. McHugh needs to do this before he can pitch in a live minor league game, which Hinch said could happen Friday. … The Astros placed relief pitcher Kevin Chapman on waivers, according to industry sources, paving the way for the lefthander’s removal from their 40-man roster early this week. … The first five cuts of spring reduced the team’s roster to 54 players. Reassigned were catcher Garrett Stubbs and four pitchers: righthanders Edison Frias, Cy Sneed and Aaron West and lefthander Brian Holmes.