Astros Crawfish Boil: May 11, 2018

Houston Astros News

On a team with multiple stars, young catcher Max Stassi has quietly been an unsung hero for the Astros - MLB.com

Greg Johns of MLB.com argues that Max Stassi has been one of the most critical players in the AL West so far for his individual team. This is certainly an interesting argument.

Lance McCullers Jr. seems to have followed TCB writer Marshall Oelman’s advice since his article was published back on April 28 - The Crawfish Boxes

Ever since this article went live, McCullers has started to use his curveball less and instead has worked on improving his other pitches. We don’t like to give ourselves a pat on the back too often, but Marshall was right on with this take a couple weeks ago.

The Astros just need to stay patient with young outfielder Derek Fisher - History Earned

Derek Fisher showed his power potential in Oakland by hitting an absolute bomb to dead center field, adding another reason as to why the Astros should stay patient with him.

For whatever reason, the Astros simply can’t hit at home right now - Houston Chronicle

We all expect this to even out eventually, but the Astros severe home/road splits are still very puzzling to start this 2018 season.

MLB News

A deeper dive into how Rangers slugger Nomar Mazara has improved in 2018 - FanGraphs

If the Rangers had 8 other hitters like Nomar Mazara, then they might have a chance at reaching a .500 record in 2018.

Former Texas A&M and current Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray with have a tough MLB Draft decision to make in a few weeks - SBNation MLB

Most know Murray as the highly-rated football recruit out of Allen HS, but the OU quarterback also plays center field for the baseball Sooners and has had a very productive college career.

Shohei Ohtani hit his 5th home run of the season last night and so there was another article written about him - SBNation MLB

I guess Ohtani’s production is a little quieter now, maybe? Anyways, it’s still pretty cool to see the young Japanese star flourishing in the majors (as long as it’s not against Houston).