An Introduction to the Future of The Crawfish Boxes

Hello Houston Astros fans and other readers,

My name is Issa Cook and I could not be more excited to announce that I have been hired as the new Site Manager of The Crawfish Boxes. I do not like to write very much about myself, but since this is my first post, here is a little bit about who I am.

Currently, I am a Junior majoring in Economics with a minor in History at Washington University in St. Louis. I got my start writing about the Houston Astros over at Climbing Tal’s Hill back in January 2015, worked my way over to Astros Insider in October 2016, and now here I am.

As for my interest in and passion for Houston Astros baseball, I’d like to believe it’s second to none. I’ve come to learn over the past three years that this is certainly not the case as I have interacted with so many great Astros fans at Minute Maid Park or on social media.

For a little bit more about my Astros story, you can check out the lone “personal article” I’ve published in three years covering the Astros after Houston brought home a 2017 World Series Championship in early November.

But, that is already way too much about me. What I’m most excited about in this article is sharing with you my plans and goals for the site. So, without much further ado, here they are:

1.) Build an Experienced & Talented Writing Staff

The most important part about building a solid baseball website is finding people who are good writers, extremely knowledgeable about the game, and, these days, analytically driven. I’m proud to announce that so far, we are building a staff that covers all three of these bases.

Joining me from Astros Insider will be my Co-Owner Marshall Oelman, University of Missouri Freshman Pitcher Drake Greenwood, and former Astros Insider writer Matthew Seliger.

Additionally, the prospect genius himself Astros Future has agreed to stay on and produce hands-down the best Houston Astros minor league content out there.

Finally, my former boss at Climbing Tal’s Hill, Jason Burke, will be joining the staff after taking a little bit of a break from writing. Jason’s baseball knowledge is off the charts, even though he really is an Oakland Athletics fan. This man truly jumped on the Astros bandwagon before it had much steam back in 2013.

All of these men are intelligent, driven, and talented people and I cannot wait to get working with all of them to deliver great content for Houston Astros fans.

2.) Establish a Consistent Crawfish Boxes Social Media Presence

During my time at Astros Insider, I believe one of our biggest strengths was the way in which we interacted with fans constantly on Twitter and Facebook. It also helps to have one of the funniest people I know, Hutch Oelman, manning the accounts and so I’m glad to announce that Hutch will be joining us at The Crawfish Boxes. Give Big Beats a follow on his account as well. You won’t regret it.

Interacting with Houston Astros fans on a daily basis is one of the most rewarding parts of this gig, and we will always emphasize that interaction here at The Crawfish Boxes.

3.) Create Houston Astros Content for the Thinking Fan

No one will ever stay ahead of the curve in baseball as much as Jeff Luhnow and his great staff, but we’re certainly going to try and catch up to the World Champion General Manager. As great as Game Recaps and Threads are, we will aim to separate ourselves through analytical pieces that display hidden trends and make our readers question their thoughts before reading one of our articles.

All of these goals will come over time as the 2018 season unfolds, but stay patient with us. We are going to work as hard as we can to build a great site here at The Crawfish Boxes and we’re glad to have all of you with us.

Before I conclude, I absolutely cannot finish this article without thanking Ryan Dunsmore for laying an incredible foundation at The Crawfish Boxes. I am a huge fan of Ryan’s work for all Houston sports and can only attempt to fill his shoes on this site. Ryan’s writing has always been impressive and, after reading this story, I’m even more impressed with his work ethic.

Thank you Ryan.

Now, we’re off and running. Thank you for taking the time to read this introduction and as always, Go ‘Stros.