TCB Astros Hitter of the Week: July 8-12

I have been dreading writing this for a couple of days now.  Who would have ever guessed that picking top hitters while in the middle of a six game losing streak would be so terrible?  Usually even when a team loses they have a few guys that still hit, but they are struck by bad luck, poor pitching, inability to drive runners in, etc.  Not the Astros!  When they slump, they slump HARD.  Up and down the lineup it was almost impossible to find a player that had an average week, much less a good one.  For example, check out these batting lines for the guys who are regularly in the hunt for this "award":

Jose Altuve - .190/.190/.333

Carlos Correa - .167/.250/.222

Evan Gattis - .105/.105/.263

George Springer - .000/.000/.000 (too soon?)

Now I realize this whole exercise is based on SSS, but most of the rest of the team was the same (or worse)!  All is not lost though...I was able to find two guys who were not horrible in this last stretch.  So here are the TCB (Average) Hitters of the week.

Preston Tucker

Now, if we extend this beyond this past week, Preston would have been head and shoulders above the rest of the team, as he had a couple of really good games to start the Cleveland series.  As it stands, he went 4-for-17 (.235) in the stretch leading up to the break.  He did draw one walk, which brought his on-base percentage to .278.  He makes the list this week on the fact that on a team that had a lot of sub-.200 hitters this week, he wasn't one of them.

Marwin Gonzalez

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Astros most prolific hitter.  Marwin batted a robust .300 this week playing in place of the injured Luis Valbuena.  He also drew one walk (which is unexpected for him) and struck out only twice, although in ten at-bats that is still 20%.  He had one extra base hit (a double) and scored a run.  That may not sound like many runs, but if you remember they only scored seven total over those five games.  Gonzalez, who had an OPS of .764, was the only player this week (including guys who only played one or two games) who had an OPS over .700.  Actually he was the only one over .600!

People can talk about missing Springer in the lineup, but this past week one guy would not have made that much of a difference in these batting lines.  The All Star Break couldn't have come at a better time.  Hopefully everyone comes back rested and ready to get back on the winning track Friday night.