Astros Trending, Bi-Weekly Review. April 26 -May 9th

Team Record:

23-15, 1st in AL West, four games ahead of Mariners. 1 1/2 games behind Minnesota for 1st place in AL

Pythagorean W-L 24-14. 192 runs, 143 runs allowed

SRS, 1.7, highest in AL.

Team Hitting:

The Astros started this period second in wRC+ at 129 and remain at 129 but now in first ahead of the regressing Mariners, who trail the Astros significantly at 118. Just for fun, the 1927 Yankees had a 126 wRC+ and the 2017 Astros finished at 122.

Despite dominant hitting, the Astros are only third in runs due to a .234 BA with RISP. In the last two week period this number is even lower, .221. The season BA with RISP is 13th in the AL. Texas and Seattle, the two leading AL West rivals, are first and second in this category at .289 and .285 respectively.

For American League Team stats for the year to date go HERE.

Team Hitting Last 14 Days

Astros hitting in the last two weeks is close to season averages, but the Astros are second to the Rangers in runs and second to the Twins in home runs.

Astros Individual Hitting, Year to Date

Two weeks ago Alex Bregman led the leader board with a 158 OPS+ but he has been surpassed by the red-hot George Springer and Michael Brantley at 170 and 166 respectively. Brantley leads the team in BA at .340, which is second in the AL, followed closely by Josh Reddick at .336. Springer leads the team in home runs with 13, which is tied for first in the AL with Eddie Rosario. The Astros have five players with nine or more home runs, which is five in the top ten overall. There are four players with .900+ OPS’s, which if it continued for the rest of the season, would be something only rarely achieved in baseball history.

The Astros can field seven players whose OPS is at least 14 percent better than league average all the way up to 70 percent above league average. The only full time starter below league average is Yuli Gurriel, and that just barely at 98 OPS+.

Astros Individual Hitting, 4/26-5/9

George Springer’s 1.000+ OPS and Alex Bregman’s .962 are continuations of similar hot streaks from the previous two-week period. Michael Brantley and Carlos Correa join Springer in the rarified 1.000+ club with the surprising Robinson Chirinos just a bit behind.

Though not crushing it, Tony Kemp and Yuli Gurriel have picked up the pace a bit from the last period we studied. Suffering regression these last two weeks is Josh Reddick, and outright slumping are Jose Altuve and Tyler White.

The BABIP dragon has been breathing fire on Altuve this year, .227 for the season, and .195 for the two week period. Tyler White does not have that excuse, his .200 BA is helped by .385 BABIP in the two week period, and his season average of .258 is aided by a .432 BABIP. Odd this baseball. One of the faster players can’t buy a hit, and one of the slowest gets a hit almost every other time he puts a ball in play.

Tomorrow we take a statistical dive into the Astros pitching for the season, and for the two-week period.