The Post All-Stars Stros in Review: July 20-Aug 12.

Season Record: 73-46. First in AL West, 2.5 games ahead of the Oakland A’s. Third in AL behind Boston, 11.5 games behind the first place and red hot Red Sox

Pythagorean won/loss record: 81-38, best in MLB. Run differential: +195 (582 runs 4th most, 387 runs allowed, least)

Baseball Reference SRS: 1.6, best in MLB but down .3 of a point and losing ground to Boston at 1.5

The Big Trends: The Astros have a losing record in 20 games since the All Star game, playing many or all of them without Brian McCann, Carlos Correa, George Springer and Jose Altuve. Considering the toll taken on the team by injuries to players of this caliber, it is remarkable in one sense that their record is no worse than 9-11.

The Astros have lost all seven games they have played at home since the All Star game. They have won nine and lost only four on the road. Their hitting is the 3rd worst in baseball at home and the pitching is the second worst during this time. On the road since the All Star break the hitting has been at league average and the pitching has been the best in baseball.

Overall, home and away, the Houston offense is rated 22nd in baseball since the All Star game and the pitching is rated 8th.

Record: The Astros came out of the All Star break taking 2 out of 3 from the Angels in Anaheim. Then they split a 2 game series with the Rockies in Colorado. They came home and were swept by the Rangers in 3 games before going back on the road to Seattle where they took 2 out of 3 games from the Mariners. The Astros traveled south to Los
Angeles and took 2 out of 3 games from the Dodgers, went north to San Fran where they beat the Giants in 2 low scoring match ups, then came home and were swept this weekend by the Mariners in 4 straight. Since the All-Star game the Astros’ record has been 9-11

Hitting: Below is a chart with wRC+ statistics for the period since the All Star game and for the year with MLB rank

The Astros have clearly been in a hitting slump since the All Star break, especially at home. Backward road/home splits which have existed all season have been more pronounced. The Astros continue to be one of the most highly rated teams in baseball for the season but at times this year they have occupied the first place in league wRC+, now down to third.

Individual Hitting Since All Stars: Below is a chart of the individual statistics compiled by the Astro’s since the All Star game.

Overall team OPS was .685. OPS against was .696.

Hitting since the All Star game has been mainly supported by Jake Marisnick...what?...Tyler White...what?...George Springer and Marwin Gonzalez. Unfortunately, Springer got injured just as he was heating up, and then his red hot replacement, Jake Marisnick went down also.

Alex Bregman has cooled off considerably since the All Star game, hitting about league average since, but Jose Altuve, before his injury, Evan Gattis and Max Stassi have been cold, and Kyle Tucker, Martin Maldonado, Yuli Gurriel and J. D. Davis, now at AAA, have been Antarctic.

Just for comparison purposes below is a chart of the team batting for the year.

Who would have thought that Tyler White would be team leader in OPS, or that Tony Kemp would lead George Springer. Small samples, of course.

Pitching: Below is a chart of the team’s pitching since the All Star game and for the season with MLB rank.

Starting pitching since the All Star game has a 3.30 ERA, ranked 8th. The bullpen has a 4.28, ranked 13th. But since August 1, the bullpen’s ERA is only 1.45, ranked second. For the entire season the bullpen has regained top spot, at 3.03, slightly ahead of the league leading starters, at 3.07.

Just FYI, the Astros bullpen also leads the majors in FIP, xFIP and WHIP as well.

The following is a chart of the individual pitching performances since the All Star game.

Don’t be confused by Devenski’s 0.00 ERA. It was actually infinite. He is currently on the disabled list.

Tony Sipp, Collin McHugh, Joe Smith, and Brad Peacock have been excellent in relief since the All Star game. Sipp’s ERA is a bit deceptive, as he has come in for stints of less than an inning without surrendering a run, but his WHIP has been high; that is he has allowed base runners but has been lucky not to give up any runs.

Joe Smith has become a more trusted member of the pen, getting higher leverage appearances.

Hector Rondon has had a rough stretch, allowing 5 runs in about 9 innings with 2 home runs and a blown save.

Since the All Star game, Dallas Keuchel has resumed his role as the team’s ace.

Below is a chart of the pitching statistics for the season.

The following are charts showing the Astros hitting relative to the their main American League competitors. The first chart will show the how the Astros rank in wRC+ since the All Star game. The other for the whole season.

This chart compares the Astros season ERA to their main competitors.

The next two charts will compare the Astros hitting to that of their main AL competitors, the first since the All Star game, the second for the whole season.

FYI. The Texas Rangers are the leading hitting team since the All Star game. Baltimore is third.

The next chart compares the Astros hitting to their main competitors for the season using wRC+.

Major takeaways:

The Astros slump since the All Star game is not just a hitting phenomenon, both hitting and pitching have slumped, although hitting more so. The Astros home/road reverse splits phenomenon is also not just a hitting problem. Both the hitters and the pitchers have performed worse at home. It seems Minute Maid Park is only a bad place for Astros hitters, not opposing hitters.

Comparing Houston with her main rivals. The Red Sox are first in hitting for the season with a growing margin and second in pitching. The Astros remain comfortably ahead in pitching and are third in hitting. Oakland is competitive in both categories for the season, Seattle is not.

Oakland is clearly the hottest team since the All Star break, beating all the contenders in both hitting and pitching. The Astros are the worst hitting team in the group and merely average in pitching since the All Star game.

For what it’s worth, the Yankees have been having their own post All Star woes as well.

Defense

Both Defense Efficiency Ratio and Fielding Percentage have taken noticeable hits with the injuries to Correa and Altuve. DER is down from .714 the last time recorded, which was itself down from earlier highs, to .709. FPCT is down to .988 from .989, which was also less than previous high marks.

As I write the Oakland A’s are pounding the team that just swept the Astros.