Abreu, Urquidy stage bids for roster spots
At long last, the regular season is over. At 107-55, the Astros finished with the best record in baseball for the first time in franchise history. As long as they play in the postseason, they will have home-field advantage. There will be an “optional” workout Tuesday at Minute Maid Park. Wednesday will be a more formal gathering before Major League Baseball’s official workout day Thursday. The Astros will learn their American League Division Series opponent Wednesday night, when Tampa Bay travels to Oakland for the AL wild-card game. Entering the postseason, here are three Astros trending up and three trending down.
THREE UP
Bryan Abreu: The rookie continues to craft a compelling case for inclusion in the Astros’ ALDS bullpen.
Abreu struck out three of the four batters he faced in Sunday’s regularseason finale against the Angels. His breaking balls were again filthy — four of the 12 he threw generated a swing and miss — but more impressive was his poise.
Opposing the pesky David Fletcher with one out in the seventh, Abreu fell behind 3-0. The righty challenged him with two four-seam fastballs before spinning a nasty slider in the other batter’s box. Fletcher, he of a 9.6 percent strikeout rate this season, gave a silly swing for a third strike.
Abreu finished with 13 strikeouts and three walks in 72⁄3 September innings. Manager A.J. Hinch continues to challenge him with more established major league hitters in higher-stress situations. Abreu continues to pass the tests.
“He’s got a chance to be really good in this league and got a chance to impact October rosters,” Hinch said Sunday. “We’ll see if he’s going to make our postseason team, but what a showing by a young pitcher on the rise.”
Jose Urquidy: On the Astros’ pregame radio show before Sunday’s game, general manager Jeff Luhnow intimated Urquidy secured a spot on the Astros’ ALDS roster with his strong performance Friday, when he threw six scoreless innings to beat the Angels.
Whether Urquidy is named the Game 4 starter, pitches out of the bullpen or even pitches at all in the postseason remains to be seen. Even if he’s hardly a playoff factor, Urquidy has turned heads and made himself a favorite to enter the back of Houston’s rotation in 2020.
In 18 September innings, he struck out 16, walked three and allowed just two earned runs. Urquidy’s poise is advanced, as is his aggression in the strike zone. Both will serve him well should he find himself in a playoff game.
Will Harris: Harris’ immaculate inning Friday was a formal revelation for what most around the team already knew: This is the best season of Harris’ career.
Harris finished his regular season with a career-low 1.50 ERA. He struck out 62 in 60 innings and will be relied upon in high-leverage spots in the playoffs.
The impeccable year comes just as Harris enters free agency. The Astros, facing a bullpen exodus of four freeagent relievers, would be well-served to intently pursue a reunion with their 35-year-old righthander.
THREE DOWN
Yordan Alvarez: For the first time as a major leaguer, Alvarez is demonstrating signs of frustration. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Sunday. After the second punchout, Alvarez angrily snapped his bat over his knee, breaking it in half.
Alvarez finished the team’s final sixgame road trip 1-for-15 with nine strikeouts. He does not have a hit in his last 12 plate appearances.
“He wants to be perfect. He wanted to continue to build,” Hinch said. “I think he wanted to get to 30 homers in the big leagues. He fell short a little bit, but guys don’t like making outs. I think he’ll be in a pretty good frame of mind hitting in the middle of the order on Friday.”
The slump does not sully what was otherwise an awesome rookie season. Though he played only 87 games, Alvarez will win American League Rookie of the Year honors, perhaps even unanimously. He hit 27 home runs and 26 doubles and led the Astros lineup with a 1.067 OPS.
Carlos Correa: Concern surrounding Correa’s tight lower back undercut the season-ending six-game road trip. Whether he is healthy enough to play in the ALDS — or even make the roster — is a huge unknown.
No Astro faces a more pivotal week than Correa, who keeps reiterating he could play if the playoffs started now but has not done any baseball activities in eight days.
“We want him to swing the bat toward the middle part of the week, and most important will be the day after he does a full workout on Wednesday or Thursday,” Hinch said. “We’re going to need to know how he responds to doing everything — from fielding to swinging to running, and then the next day is the big day. The day he does it, he’s probably going to feel great. I think he feels good now. I think the recovery day the next day is the day we’ll all be hopeful he reports back pretty well.”
Brad Peacock: Peacock’s outing Sunday was not ideal. He recorded only two outs and threw 15 of his 24 pitches for strikes. His four-seam fastball velocity averaged 92.6 mph, according to BaseballSavant, and his secondary pitches generated just one swing and miss.
Peacock’s inclusion on the postseason roster always came with a caveat. The Astros had to ensure he was effective after such a long stint on the injured list with shoulder pain and neck nerve irritation.
Hinch was very encouraged after Peacock’s outing Friday against the Angels. Ten of his 14 pitches were strikes, and he recorded four outs. But with Abreu making a compelling case for a roster spot and Urquidy all but sealing one, Peacock could be on the outside looking in.