TCB Astros Hitter of the Week: June 3-10

As you can probably guess, when you are on a seven game losing streak there may not be a lot of outstanding hitting performances.  The Astros scored two or less runs in six of the seven games this week.  They scored six runs in the other game, but the infamous "trip over Reyes' butt popup" helped seal our fate that day.  (If you have a better name for it let me know...)

There were actually a few guys who had good (or at least acceptable) weeks, but that was it.  Once you get past those three it drops off precipitously no matter what statistics you use.  There were a lot of averages, OBP, and SLG numbers this week that started with a zero.  It seems some players have been pretty unlucky also, hitting a lot of balls right at the defense.  Here are some of the guys who hit it where they weren't.

Honorable Mention

Jonathan Villar

Stop!  Put away the torches and pitchforks for a minute while I explain.  Villar is my "control" for this week.  This should put the Astros hitting in perspective.  Villar was the Astros third best hitter of the week with this slash line:  .250/.333/.438.  Not horrible...not great.  He hit his only home run of the year in a big loss to Toronto.  He was one of the average to above average hitters in this lineup, but the gaffes in the field and on the bases may have been too much for management to handle.  I personally hope he can fix his issues because he could be a valuable role player on the team.

Carlos Correa

I don't think anyone could have hoped for more from the debut of the most exciting prospect in years.  (Well, we could have hoped more, but I don't think we could have expected more.)  So far in his short career Correa has gone 4-12 with a home run and a double.  Since he has been up he has driven in 75% of the total runs for the team.  (Yes I understand it was only 3 out of 4...STILL COUNTS.)  His first career home run was beautiful, and the smile on his face while he watched it go out was priceless.  He will undoubtedly struggle at some point this season as all rookies do, but for now we should all be excited about this start.

Winner

George Springer

I don't know if moving Springer from the 2 or 3 spot in the order to the leadoff spot did anything substantial, but there is no doubt he has turned a corner since moving there.  He had hits in five of the seven games, and multiple hits in three (including a 5-5 performance on Wednesday).  He brought his season batting average up 27 points to a more respectable .254 by going 11-28 (.393).  He also got on base over 45% of the time.

I don't know if he is trying to hit more like a leadoff guy, but it seems he is not swinging as hard as earlier in the season.  He saw a lot of pitches, and was very selective (only 5 strikeouts).  He is also using the opposite field more.  In his 5-hit game, three of the hits went to RF, while the other 2 went to CF.  We didn't see much power from Springer this week, but with the way everyone was hitting singles are great also!