Astros hire another blogger

In the wake of Kevin Goldstein’s promotion, we’ve learned that there is yet another blogger in the organization. Recently hired by the team, this writer doesn’t evaluate talent or data. He pitches.

No he’s not in marketing. He’s a right-hander that has been used as both a starter and a reliever.

If baseball doesn’t work out for Collin McHugh he could have a future as a writer. But, for now, the 26-year old is focused on putting his best foot forward with his third organization in the past seven months. In his latest blog entry McHugh chronicled the ups and downs of being a player bouncing up and down between the minors and the big leagues. It’s an excellent piece that reminds us that there is more to baseball than fame and fortune.

Overall the season ended with both my wife and I looking at each other and saying ‘we have to figure out a way to deal differently with all of this.’ We were convinced that our marriage and sanity couldn’t take much more of the way we had managed our expectations. I decided that I needed to look at baseball as more of a job and less of a ‘calling.’

McHugh is obviously an intelligent young man. Judging by the commenters on his blog he is also personable and respectful of others. A day older, a day wiser — how appropriately named. If McHugh can grow his game as much as he appears to have grown as a person, the Astros may have found a keeper.

Collin McHugh (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)