Wednesday's Three Astros Things

Some things to talk about while Springer gets a short mention/GIF in this article...

1) Franchise Four

Things are moving past the first round in this Franchise Four competition that MLB is putting together. The top four for the Astros right now are Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Nolan Ryan and Lance Berkman. Four  other players are still in the running, including Jimmy Wynn, J.R. Richard, MIke Scott and Jose Cruz.

My vote went for Bagwell, Bidge, Berkman and Jimmy Wynn, but I could see arguments for Nolan, too. Ideally, you'd put someone from all four main eras of Astros baseball and come up with a list like Wynn, Nolan, Biggio and Berkman. But, leaving off Bagwell seems sacrilegious.

So, I'll ask you: who are you voting for? You can do so at this link. You can also vote multiple times.

We've done this before, but is there anyone who should be on the list but isn't? Who's most likely to represent this current era of Astros baseball? Altuve? Correa?

2) Ground ball outs

This seems relevant to Houston's pitching success this year, no?

Highest rate of turning ground balls into outs in 2015 Astros 81% Orioles 79% Royals 79% Cardinals 77% Tigers 77%

— Mark Simon (@msimonespn) April 22, 2015

In Brent Strom We Trust.

3) Gregerson settling into role

Luke Gregerson has been pretty great since being named the Astros closer heading into the season. Evan Drellich catches up with the right-hander to see how his season has gone.

"Any time you go out there and get guys out, no matter what the situation, is always a positive thing," Gregerson said. "That's what we're here to do. I'm very happy right now with the way the ball's coming out of my hand, the effectiveness of the pitches.

"When you're out there (closing compared to other relief roles), it doesn't feel much different. You know that's the end. You know you have to finish it out and make sure we walk away with that victory, and so far, so good."

What about Gregerson's platoon splits? How does his repertoire of fastballs and sliders work against lefties?

"Get ahead," Gregerson said of his approach against lefties. "Hopefully they're swinging early and they want to roll over a fastball, you know. But I'm not always the same way. I like to mix it up and start maybe back door (with the slider), try to get that free strike in there, get them looking out there. And then, I don't know man, it just kind of comes to me as I go."

Drellich does good work on a nice, little feature on Gregerson. It's worth reading the full thing.