Astros Crawfish Boil: December 16, 2022

Welcome to your Friday Boil!

Houston Astros News

Astros bring back entire staff under Dusty, add one coach (mlb.com)

Report: Houston Astros Broadcasters Kalas, Blum Unsigned for the 2023 Season (si.com)

Astros’ World Series artifacts now on display at Baseball Hall of Fame (abc13.com)

As free agency dies down, Houston Astros remain World Series favorites (chron.com)

Astros partner with Samsung to elevate Minute Maid Park with state-of-the-art technology (mlb.com)

Astros star shortstop Jeremy Pena reveals Carlos Correa was a mentor to him - “Since the first day we met, he kind of took me under his wing” (sportskeeda.com)

MLB News

Why Are Teams Issuing Extremely Long Contracts? (FanGraphs.com)

JAWS and the 2023 Hall of Fame Ballot: Andy Pettitte (FanGraphs.com)

Effectively Wild Episode 1942: Get Interested in Interest Rates! (FanGraphs.com)

Yankees Rumors: Andrew Benintendi 5-Year Contract Doesn’t Interest NY in Free Agency (bleacherreport.com)

Carlos Rodon joining Yankees on 6-year, $162M deal, sources say (ESPN.com)

MLB Free Agency: Don’t overthink it — Sign the best players available (yahoo.com)

Dansby Swanson chase in MLB free agency looks to be a 2 team race (sportsnaut.com)

Yankees, Mets free agency projections for current, former players: Andrew Benintendi, Gary Sanchez, more (nj.com)

Red Sox setting themselves up for failure by refusing to evolve with free-agent market (bosoxinjection.com)

Oops! All Astros: Zach Cole

Zach Cole is a six-foot-two, 190 lb. left-handed batting, right-handed throwing outfielder from Ozark, MO. Born on August 4, 2000, he was Houston's 10th round selection in the 2022 draft. Taken with the 313th overall selection, Cole would be the 10th to make the majors if he graduates that far. Of the nine that previously made it that far, only Peter Bourjos (9.6) accumulated career WARs of greater than 0.2.

Cole was selected out of Ball State, as were another 67 players through the history of the draft. A dozen made it to the big leagues, led by Zach Plesac (4.4 WAR). Cole signed with Houston to a deal that includes a $97,500 bonus. He started his career with the Rookie-level FCL Astros Orange, and went two-for-17 with six strikeouts in his first four games.

On August 9, he made his debut with the Low-A Fayetteville Woodpeckers. He got his first hit the next day, with an RBI-single in a 2-1 loss to the Down East Wood Ducks. On August 17, he had his first two-hit game with a pair of singles and a run scored in a 6-5 loss to the Carolina Mudcats. On August 30, he hit a single and a double, also drawing a walk and collecting three RBI in a 10-4 loss to the Wood Ducks.

Through the season, Cole appeared in a total of 32 contests between the two affiliates. In 134 plate appearances, he went 22-for-112 with five doubles and two home runs. He drew 16 walks and struck out 37 times, finishing with a .196/.328/.295 slashline. Most impressively, he stole 17 bases in 20 attempts. Cole should start 2023 back in Fayetteville, but he’ll likely be bound for High-A Asheville at some point near midway through the season.