Game Preview, August 19, 2019. 1:10 CDT, Rays vs. Astros (Astros Offensive Week in Review)

The Astros hope to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays in this, the final game of a three game series at Minute Maid Park. Zack Greinke goes for his fifth straight win without a loss as an Astro. Meanwhile, The Rays send Andrew Kittredge to the mound, in what may be one of the Rays’ famous “opener” gambits.

In the six games of the hitting streak the Astros have been on an offensive tear, scoring no less than five in any game, and 15 in one game, while scoring 50 runs total during the six game streak.

The onslaught has been led by......well, almost everybody. I guess you put Alex Bregman at the top with a 289 wRC+ for the last seven days, followed by Yuli Gurriel, 250, Yordan Alvarez, 240, Jose Altuve, 173, Michael Brantley, 168, and hallelujah, Josh Reddick, 151. Only compared to these mashers does George Springer’s 137 look disappointing.

In six games, Bregman has accumulated 0.7 fWAR. If he could do that for a whole season it would be 18 WAR. During this stretch he leads the team in runs (9), RBI (8) BA, OBP, and SLG. His two home runs are tied with Gurriel and Alvarez for tops during this last week.

As a team the Astros still lead the league in wRC+ for the season, hitting a Gehrig/Ruthian 124. But for the week they are hitting an insane 165, better than the next best team, the A’s by 30 points. Needless to say, for the last week the Astros have led the American league in runs, RBI, BA, OBP and SLG. They have been doing this with only average home run production, as the Yankees have hit 20 homers in this time to the Astros’ 10, a category in which the Astros rank only 5th for the week. But despite scoring the most runs by a comfortable margin, the Astros have the second to lowest K% during this time.

Thanks to Robyncypress we have these stats regarding the top Astros and where they rank in the race for the batting title:

Astros Moving on up: AL Batting Stats: Brantley, .335 (tied for 1st), Gurriel, .308, (tied for 6th), Altuve, .301 (tied for 8th).

Let’s see if the good times keep rolling this afternoon in Minute Maid Park.

Note: Brad Peacock was put back on the IL. Cy Sneed is back to replace him.