Astros Trending, Bi-Weekly Review. May 9th-May 23rd, 2019, Hitting

It doesn’t get any better than this. The Astros took eleven of thirteen, and took a commanding lead in the AL West. The bats went insane, but slowed a bit by the end of this period.

Team Record:

33-17, 1st in AL West, 7.5 games ahead of Rangers. Tied with Minnesota for 1st place in AL. Moved up 1 ¹⁄₂ games. (33-18 as of last night. All stats are before game of 5-23)

Two Week Record: 11-2

Pythagorean W-L 34-16. 270 runs, 176 runs allowed.

SRS, 2.0, highest in AL.

Team Hitting:

The Astros started this period first in wRC+ at 129 and are now in first at 132, ahead of the Twins, at 119. The Mariners have further regressed, down from 119 to 110. Just for fun, the 1927 Yankees had a 126 wRC+ and the 2017 Astros finished at 122.

The Astros lead the league in every part of the slash line: .281/.355/.506.

Despite dominant hitting, the Astros are only fourth in runs due to a .248 BA with RISP. In the last two week period this number is much improved at .283. Texas and Seattle, the two leading AL West rivals, are tied for second in runs scored at 271, and the Twins lead at 273.

The Astros are tied with the Twins for second in home runs, and despite their slump, the Mariners still lead the league at 93.

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

The Astros have been on fire the last two weeks, already first in the league at the beginning of the period, they expanded their lead with a torrid 145 wRC+, slashing .297/.372/.541. They lagged slightly behind the Twins in runs and home runs.

Astros Individual Hitting, Year to Date

In the last report I boasted that the Astros could field seven players at least 14 percent better than league average. This report I can say there are 9 players 13 percent above league average, although two, Jose Altuve and George Springer, are injured right now. Jake Marisnick actually advanced to fifth highest Astro in OPS+, now 135, and another who advanced notably was Tony Kemp, now at a nearly league average .742 OPS.

Astros Individual Hitting, 5/9 - 5/23

During this time period, four Astros had OPS’s over 1.000, Springer, Kemp, Diaz, and Marisnick. Yeah, three unlikely names there. More familiar names, like Bregman and Correa, are still over .900. The only below average hitters during this period were Tyler White and Max Stassi.

Despite missing three games, Springer still led the team in hits, was tied with Bregman in home runs, and second to Aledmys Diaz and Carlos Correa in RBI. Anyone think the Astros should have kept Trent Thornton instead of trading for Diaz?

Astros Leaderboards

The Astros have four of the top ten hitters in the AL by wRC+. (minimum 150 AB’s) They are:

Astros wRC+ leaders

George Springer, 177, 2nd (behind leader Joey Gallo)

Alex Bregman, 154, 8th

Michael Brantley, 149, 9th

Carlos Correa, 142, 10th

Astros fWAR leaders

George Springer, 2.8, 2nd (behind Mike Trout)

Alex Bregman, 2.4, 5th

Michael Brantley, 1.9, 8th

Carlos Correa, 1.7, 12th

Astros Home Run Leaders

George Springer, 17, 1st

Alex Bregman, 15, 2nd (tied)

Carlos Correa, 11, 16th (tied)

Astros RBI Leaders

George Springer, 42 1st

Alex Bregman, 35, 7th

Michael Brantley, 34, 9th

Carlos Correa, 33, 13th

Astros Runs Leaders

George Springer, 41, 2nd

Alex Bregman, 32, 14th

For a chart of the entire leaderboard of AL hitters, go HERE

We’ll have an update on bi-weekly pitching tomorrow.