Hinch to continue mixing things up in No. 2 spot
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Last year, A.J. Hinch enjoyed the freedom to move hitters in and out of the No. 2 hole behind leadoff batter George Springer.
His moves worked. Big-time.
Not only did Astros No. 2 hitters combine for a league-leading .318 average — well ahead of the .301 posted by the Colorado Rockies’ hitters, who placed second — they finished among the top five in every offensive category except home runs.
By season’s end, Jose Altuve (.412 average in 42 games), Alex Bregman (.304 in 42 games) and Josh Reddick (.296 in 60 games) all had provided good production from that spot.
Hinch said Wednesday a rotation will likely be the case again in 2018, but he isn’t losing any sleep over how to manage it.
“I’m not really married to any one idea,” the skipper said. “I think Bregman, Reddick, Marwin (Gonzalez) occasionally, Altuve, are the guys that will get most of the at-bats in the two-hole.
“I just don’t stay up at night worrying about that part of the lineup.”
Spring HRs don’t faze Verlander
Facing the Cardinals for his second straight game, Astros ace Justin Verlander wanted to throw more pitches Wednesday than he did against them on Friday. He’d like a couple back. Matt Carpenter , an Elkins High School graduate, blasted a 3-2 pitch for a home run in the top of the third inning, then Luke Voit pinch-hit for Carpenter and followed suit, ripping a 3-2 breaking ball over the center-field wall for a solo shot in the fifth.
When Verlander walked off the mound at Fitteam Ballpark of the Palm Beaches after throwing 79 pitches, he had allowed eight hits, twice as many as he gave up in his previous three spring games combined.
But he wasn’t concerned. He’s throwing more curveballs than he typically would and trying sequences of pitches he wouldn’t normally throw. Verlander said Voit and everyone else is unlikely to see such sequences in a “real game.”
Gurriel to start ramping it up
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said first baseman Yuli Gurriel, who had surgery on his hand on Feb. 28, will begin increased activity Thursday on the practice fields at spring training and is on track to meet the six-week projection for being cleared to play.
When he does return, Gurriel will serve a fivegame suspension for an offensive gesture he made during Game 3 of the World Series.
Hinch cautious with Dulles/UH ex
Nick Hernandez ,a 23-year-old righthander from Missouri City, was pulled after pitching to three hitters in Wednesday’s game against the Cardinals because, according to manager A.J. Hinch, “he looked a little uncomfortable.”
Hernandez took the mound in the ninth, walked Patrick Wisdom on four pitches, retired Harrison Bader ona fly to center and gave up a first-pitch line-drive single to Adolis Garcia.
“He started shaking his arm a little,” Hinch said. “A kid like him is going to try to exceed expectations, so when I saw a little uncomfortable body language, I took him out.”
There was no reported injury to the Dulles and University of Houston product, an eighth-round draft pick in 2016 who advanced to Class AA Corpus Christi last season.