A week later than usual, but these predictions and a wrap-up of the June predictions come hot off the presses.
How did I do? Here are the ones I missed:
1. The Astros will go 11-16 this month.
5. Jason Castro will break out, with a .350 on-base percentage this month and four home runs.
6. Asher Wojciechowski will start at least one game for Houston.
7. Carlos Correa will get promoted to Double-A.
9. Jose Altuve will score his 50th run.
10. Jonathan Villar will steal his 20th base.
Missed the record by one game. One game! Second time in three tries that I've done that. At least I missed up a game, instead of predicting a record too good for Houston. What does that mean? Well, maybe the schedule was tough and we should have expected some fall-back.
Jason Castro most decidedly did not break out. He hit .181 in over 80 plate appearances with just one home run. He did not come anywhere close to my benchmarks. He does, however, continue to be pretty good defensively.
I don't want to talk about Wojo. I really, really don't want to talk about Correa.
Altuve would've gotten to 50 runs if not for the collapse of the offense. He got on base more often in June, but scored 10 fewer runs. Explain that for me.
And, well, I just missed Villar. It was a case of reading too much into a hot April and not seeing his game bottom out entirely. I could blame the lack of CSN Houston, but it's simpler than that. I was just over-optimistic for a shortstop prospect.
Did I get anything right?
2. Houston will draft Brady Aiken with the top pick on Thursday.
3. Jon Singleton will make his major-league debut this month.
4. The bullpen will get at least two of its injured members back.
8. George Springer will get to 15 home runs.
Hey, Houston DID pick Brady Aiken. They just haven't signed him. Oh, and the bullpen got Anthony Bass and Josh Fields back, so I win there too. Singleton debuted, shortly after I made said prediction while Springer actually reached 17 homers.
Not bad, huh? Except for those six I missed up top, this was a fairly below average month. The Villar prediction still stings.
Since we're a week late, I'm chopping one prediction off the list. We'll try to make up for the shortage next month.
1. Dallas Keuchel finishes third in the Final Vote contest.
2. Jose Altuve reaches 45 steals by the end of the month.
3. Altuve also gets to 165 hits by the end of the month.
4. Dexter Fowler misses more time than we expected.
5. Houston will go 7-12 for the rest of the month, failing to win 10 games in a month for the first time this season.
6. Jarred Cosart will pass Collin McHugh for second-most WAR on the staff.
7. Seven different players will start games on the mound for the Astros this month.
8. George Springer gets to 25 home runs.
9. Jon Singleton is sent down to Triple-A.
What are your predictions for the Astros in July?