1 ASTROS

Author:
SI Staff

MANAGER A.J. HINCH

2ND SEASON WITH ASTROS

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

NEW ACQUISITION (R) ROOKIE

2016 PROJECTED STATISTICS BY ROTOWIRE.COM

How They Can Win

Perhaps no team better represents the way the game is typically played now than the Astros, whose hitters led the AL in strikeouts, were fifth in walks and were second in home runs last year. Hitting 230 bombs is special. Hitting 144 solo shots—the most in baseball, and the sixth-highest solo- shot percentage— isn't. Too often Houston's offense was a series of three strikeouts wrapped around a long homer. Their .315 OBP was about league average, but their lineup consisted of three players up top who got on base, followed by six who didn't. The Astros are two good OBP guys away from having a great offense. To justify SI's World Series pick, they'll need to mix their OBP and power better, with the bottom two-thirds of the lineup— Evan Gattis, Colby Rasmus and Luis Valbuena in particular—reaching base far more than they did last year. Whoever wins the first base job, Jon Singleton or rookie A.J. Reed, will need to do that as well.

Enemy Lines

A RIVAL SCOUT SIZES UP HOUSTON

OVERALL 1 RANK

For being only 21, Carlos Correa carries himself very professionally. You can see the guy hitting .320, with a 30-30 season. I wouldn't want him to run enough to steal 30 bags, though. You don't want him to run into getting hurt.... I don't think Carlos Gomez's overall ability has declined. Last year, with some injuries, he didn't put up the same type of numbers, but he'll bounce back.... A.J. Reed puts together quality at bats. He almost looks like a defensive tackle up there—a lefthanded Steve Balboni but even taller, with very strong hands.... When Jose Altuve was a nobody in spring training a few years ago, it was, "Golly, he barrels the ball up all day long—but he's so small!" Whatever. He might be better than Dustin Pedroia was.... George Springer(below) is a tool shed. He has to continue to make progress in cutting down the strikeouts and putting the ball in play. Even so, he should be a 20-home-run guy, 25 doubles, steal 20 bags. Mike Cameron at his very peak.... Dallas Keuchel has figured out what kind of pitcher he is: cutting it, sinking it, changing speeds, never repeating pitches. Doing the lefthanded thang.... You're impressed by Lance McCullers's 94-mph fastball, but the hard breaking ball, with the down action and ability to throw it with the same arm speed as his fastball, is what makes him tough.... Doug Fister's already throwing harder this year than at any point last year. For a lot of people a mile or two doesn't mean that much, but it does for him because of the way his stuff reacts, and it makes his changeup that much more effective.... The price tag for Ken Giles, five players, could have been a tad steep. I don't know if he's finished his learning curve yet. But they've got guys in the pen that have closed before in Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek. It's a strong bullpen, a strike-throwing bullpen.

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TIM HEITMAN/USA TODAY SPORTS (CORREA)

BIG LEAP The rebuild is over. With a Cy Young winner and a strong core of young position players (like Correa) in place in Houston, the future is now.

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BOB LEVEY/GETTY IMAGES (KEUCHEL)

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BRAD MANGIN/MLB PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (SPRINGER)

March 28, 2016