Astros Crawfish Boil: November 21

Crawfish Boil’s Ready! Dig In!

Houston Astros News

Could the New York Mets be a landing spot for Justin Verlander?

Check out Houston’s five longest homers of 2022. Four are by Yordan Alvarez. None are the one from the World Series. It would have been number four on the list if MLB.COM had included the playoffs.

Oddsmakers have the Astros landing Aaron Judge at +1800, or 5.2 percent.

If the Mets do land Verlander, will Houston target Jacob deGrom? This article hopes not.

FanSided breaks down probable big-ticket gets for the Astros.

MLB News

The Mariners are interested in Gleyber Torres.

Asdrubal Cabrera absolutely clocked Carlos Castro rounding first on this home run. Holy crap.

Could Theo Epstein be Anaheim’s new CEO/team president?

Every team could see itself landing Aaron Judge, including the Chicago Cubs.

An Athletics Nation editorial—dreaming of a few front-line starting pitchers for the 102-loss team.

Do you have 10 minutes? You could do worse than to read this. An essay on Ted Williams’ final at bat (it was a home run). Gods do not answer letters.

Oops! All Astros: Yohander Martinez

Yohander Martinez is a five-foot-10, 175 lb. right-handed infielder from Caracas, VZ. Born on January 8, 2002, he signed his first deal with the Astros on July 2, 2018. After spending the 2019 campaign at the rookie-level with the DSL Astros, he joined the Low-A Fayetteville Woodpeckers in 2021. He hit .265/.400/.296 in 44 games, drawing 27 walks versus 32 strikeouts.

For reasons unknown, Martinez started 2022 on the injured list, and didn’t appear in a game for the first two months of the minor league season. He joined the FCL Astros Blue when the Florida-based rookie-league kicked off in June, and remained there through the season.

Martinez appeared in 47 games with the Blue squad, collecting multiple hits in six of them. On July 14, he hit three singles in a 3-2 loss to the FCL Nationals. Through the season, he hit .235/.401/.294 with two homer and 19 RBI. The high walk rate from 2021 may not be a fluke—he drew 30 versus 22 strikeouts, and has 97 versus 81 through his three-year minor league career, a 15.2 walk-rate and a 13.4 whiff-rate.

Also of particular use in this specific skillset is Martinez’ talent for getting on the most painful way. He was HBP nine times in 2022, and 21 times overall. He attempted 10 steals, but was only successful five times.

Defensively, Martinez appeared at six positions for the Blue squad. He played mainly at third base (208 innings, .955 fielding percentage) and shortstop (67, .947). He also played at second (39 innings), first (23 innings), in left field (one inning), and at pitcher (one inning) without an error.