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CTH’s Houston Astros Players of the Week (June 15 – 21)

ByThomas O'Banion|

The Houston Astros had a great week! They swept the Colorado Rockies in a two home/two away series during interleague play. Then the team went to Seattle and took one from the Mariners during the final game of a three game series at Safeco Field.

Houston had some really good performances from their young studs and their bullpen kept the other teams off balance. This allowed the Astros to get back to .500 for the month of June, and extend their lead over the Texas Rangers to 3.5 games in the American League West. Now they are on to Anaheim to take on the Angels, and they couldn’t have picked a better time to start playing good baseball again.

On to the awards!

Pitchers of the Week

The Houston Astros’ bullpen was excellent again this week. They helped the team stay in games and they had to put in a lot of work with the Astros’ young arms, Lance McCullers Jr. and Vincent Velasquez, struggling to go deep into games.

So, this award gets spread to three relievers who made it count when they got the call: Josh Fields, Will Harris, and Luke Gregerson. Combined, they posted a 0.00 ERA over 8.2 innings, giving up four hits and striking out six batters. Here’s a look at their individual performances:

And Gregerson picked up two saves, too.

You know the game is in good hands when the Astros make the call to the pen.

Hitter of the Week

The hitter of the week is none other than Super George Springer! There are really no words that can encapsulate how GREAT Springer has been since returning from his concussion. During this past week he continued to be marvelous, even providing fireworks on the first pitch of the game on Friday against Seattle, taking Roenis Elias deep on the initial offering. Here’s his total line:

.452/.469/.839, 14 hits, four home runs, five RBI in 31 at bats.

George Springer’s ridiculous show at the plate improved his batting average by +.015 points over the past seven games.

If you haven’t voted for Springer for the All-Star game, you had better. Here’s the link.

Weekly Goat

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It’s hard to find fault when the team wins five out of seven games, but the dubious “honor” for weekly goat goes to rookie Vincent Velasquez. VV has shown that he has good stuff, but he’s having a hard time getting batters out early, and wound up working only 8.0 innings over the two starts he had this week. Thankfully the bullpen was ready to rock, and actually got the wins in both of those games. Here’s VV’s line:

Two starts, 8.0 IP, 6.75 ERA, .281 BAA, nine hits, six earned runs, six walks, 12 Ks

On the bright side, he’s racking up strikeouts. But the Houston Astros need their rotation to go deeper in to games. With the call up straight from double-A, it appears that Velasquez needs more time in the minors as he looks to be having a hard time adjusting to the major leagues.

CTH editor Eric Huysman discusses the Astros’ options if the young pitcher continues to struggle.

Redemption Player

This feels like déjà vu . Colby Rasmus got this award last week. This week’s version is more like a comeback or welcome back award after Colby Rasmus returned from bereavement leave for three games to deal with a family tragedy.

During the two starts he had in Seattle, Colby made a spectacular play in center field as he dove to make a catch on a blooper to rob the Mariners of a hit during the game on Saturday. Then on Sunday, Rasmus went 2-for-4, hitting a double and a home run, and scoring two runs. His homer broke open the game, essentially sealing the victory for Houston. Who doesn’t like a “Colby Jack”?

So, welcome back, Colby! We missed you.

That’s it for now. Here are the awards for previous weeks:

Week 1 / Week 2 /Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5 / Week 6 / Week 7 / Week 8/ Week 9/ Week 10

Next: Super Springer is Worthy of the All-Star Game

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