Astros Crawfish Boil: April 3, 2023

Welcome to the Monday Boil.

Houston Astros

Bagwell named Astros’ senior advisor: ‘Special baseball guy’ (mlb.com)

Breaking down all the symbolism in Astros’ World Series championship ring filled with 624 diamonds (houstonchronicle.com)

Houston Astros Jose Altuve house reportedly broken into on Opening Day (fox26houston.com)

Jose Abreu gets brutally honest on leaving White Sox for Astros (clutchpoints.com)

Early impressions from Astros’ split to start 2023 (mlb.com)

What we learned about the Astros in their first series of 2023 (chron.com)

AL West News

Mariners place LHP Robbie Ray on IL after rocky 1st start of 2023 (sports.mynorthwest.com)

Stecker: What can be learned from Mariners’ rough opening series (sports.mynorthwest.com)

OPD investigating Rendon’s swing at A’s fan as battery; incident caught on video (kron4.com)
Rendon could take a few pointers from Jose Altuve, who regularly takes a lot more verbal abuse without losing his pleasant demeanor.

With stadium questions — and a victory — Oakland A’s open new season (bizjournals.com)

Hernández: Brutal early schedule will let Angels know if they can contend for playoffs (news.yahoo.com)

Athletics Have ‘Better Opportunity’ in Las Vegas, Triple-A Affiliate President Says (bleacherreport.com)

‘Oh no!’ — Jung steals spotlight as Rangers sweep Phils (mlb.com)

Texas Rangers running game deterrents to be tested vs Orioles (dallasnews.com)

MLB News

Mets’ Kodai Senga shows off ‘Ghost Fork’ in eight-strikeout MLB debut vs. Marlins (cbssports.com)

Jazz Chisholm learning center on the fly as Marlins try to cover roster flaws; early results aren’t promising (cbssports.com)

MLB admits wrong call was made against Mets amid new timer rules (foxnews.com)

Get to know 16 of MLB’s top prospects (mlb.com)

The MLB stadium so historic, it’s part of a National Park Service program (phi17.com)
I was thinking it was Fenway...but I was mistaken.

Houston Astros Birthdays

Saturday

Rusty Staub (1944-2018) played the first six-seasons of his eventual 23-season major league career with the Houston Colt .45s and Astros from 1963 through 1968. In 833 games, he hit .273/.346/393 with 57 round-trippers and 370 RBI. He also drew 323 walks versus 311 strikeouts while with the team.

Sunday

Brandon Bielak (27) has appeared in 45 games for the Astros starting in 2020. He’s 6-7 with a 5.15 ERA and a 1.484 WHIP in 94 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Gordon Jones (1930-1994) played for the 1964 Colt .45s and the 1965 Astros, striking out 28 against 14 walks over 51 innings.

Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton (1945-2021) pitched 1981 and part of 1982 with the Astros, and went 24-17 with a 2.82 ERA and 243 K’s in 353 ²⁄₃ innings with a 1.063 WHIP.

Pete Incavigilia (59) played for six teams over his 12 season MLB career. He played for the Astros in 1992 and 1998. In 126 games, he hit .260/313/.419 with 11 homers and 46 RBI.

Today

Humberto Castellanos (25) started his MLB career by playing in eight games for the 2020 Astros. He struck out 12 in 10 ²⁄₃ innings, allowing 1.594 WHIP. He played the next two seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and is currently on the IL for the Reno Aces.