Talking Stros: Gerrit Cole Leads the Astros to Their 107th Win

At some point during the 2017 season, you may have tuned into SportsTalk 790 and heard Talking Stros. Started in December of 2015 after the surprise playoff run that fell short for the Astros, Talking Stros has been around — started by Eric Huysman with the help of Cris Roth and Brandon DelCastillo on KTXF-dB The Reel. Through my time blogging, I have interviewed several of the top prospects in the Astros farm system.

From the beginning of the show, we had guests like Lance McCullers, Alex Bregman, and Chris Devenski on the show. Billy Wagner was one of our favorite guests, but nobody can top that one time AJ Hinch joined the show. Talking Stros was able to take their digital radio show to SportsTalk 790 during the World Series season. We broadcasted after the 10th Inning Show after every Sunday and playoff game.

Due to budget reasons, 790 couldn’t carry the show anymore. We went back to KTXF-dB The Reel, and Cris Roth welcomed us back with open arms. As KTXF grows with more shows, Talking Stros has continued to grow. The Locked On Podcast Network reached out to me to start a Locked On Astros Podcast, which I started and enjoy the daily podcast.

Why should you listen to Talking Stros?

One of the reasons we started the show was to have more Astros talk out there. While fans had stopped paying attention to baseball between 2011-14 during the process, there were some die-hard fans out there. However, on local radio stations, they focused more on the Texans and then the Rockets. Listeners wanted more baseball talk, which was what the goals of the show were.

Eric and Brandon discuss the latest moves, rumors, and which prospect is ready to help the big team. Both hosts have a good feel on how the Astros think and operate, and are very opinionated. Listeners say they like the interaction and discourse between us on the show. If you ever have a question for us, text the show at 281-819-0251 at any time.

Recently I came across a The Crawfish Boxes article, and I happened to look at the comments. That article had 400 comments, meaning the readers like to interact with the readers. I reached out to the editor Bill to find out what TCB was all about and he explained it was a community, not just a blog. Through this interaction, we decided to make Talking Stros part of TCB.

Writers and readers are welcome to call the show to talk Astros baseball. Every weekend we will try to have some of TCB writers join to talk about the articles they wrote and their thoughts on the Astros.

How to listen to Talking Stros.

Unlike most other podcasts, you can listen live and call into the show. Brandon and I like the interaction through Twitter and text messages. Our rule is, if you took the time to ask a question, we will address it before the show ends. Our listeners are very knowledgeable, so it made sense for us to join the thinking fan site. Join the conversation live every Sunday from 6-8 pm CST.

To call into the show, please text 281-819-0251 and say type your name and what you want to discuss. I will text you back and tell you when to call or call you back. Texts or Tweets are the best way to go, but we can work in a few phone calls. Just be patient, we don’t have a switchboard or producer.

To listen to the show, you need to download the TuneIn App on mobile devices or through the link on laptop/computers. Don’t pay for anything that is the option if you don’t want to hear TuneIn’s ads. You can pause and rewind at any time, so it’s basically like having on-demand radio. You can listen anywhere with a phone or tell your smart speakers to say, listen to KTXF!

While we can use bad words because it’s digital radio, we typically avoid that. The only time I can remember was when we had Geoff Blum on the show. I may have inadvertently dropped a bomb in reference to his grand slam in the 2005 World Series. We laughed.

Can’t listen live? No problem. We will add the archive of the podcast to the KTXF Soundcloud page and The Crawfish Boxes. You can listen the next day on your way to work in your car. If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to Texas Sports Review for the shows to automatically download while you sleep.

Listen Live Here!

Topics for this week’s show (check back here each week for updated topics)

Segment 1: 7:00 pm - So many individual accomplishments!

Segment 2: 7:20 pm - A look at the playoff bound teams and focus on who the Astros best match-up with in the first round?

Segment 3: 7:40 pm – Who is likely on the roster for Game 1 of the ALDS on Friday?

Check back closer to showtime for an updated outline for Talking Stros. We will also create a second page for all the Talking Stros Soundcloud links. Please follow the following so you can interact with Talking Stros.

Eric: @EricTalksStros

Brandon: @BBalllawyer

Talking Stros: @TalkingStros

KTXF-bD: @KTXFdb

Locked On Astros: @LockedOnAstros