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Houston Astros: Evan Gattis is heating up in past 15 games.
By Eric Huysman
The Houston Astros make a bold move this offseason to trade Rio Ruiz, Mike Foltynewicz, and Andrew Thurman for Evan Gattis and James Hoyt from the Atlanta Braves. Despite leading the team in runs batted in and second on the team with 22 home runs, Gattis has been a streaky player in 2015 with the Astros. Despite the home runs, Gattis is known for his speed on the bases with nine triples on the season. Of course I kid, Gattis’ triples stem from his ability to hit the ball far, and it eludes the fielders.
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With the Astros struggling offensively, the team needed someone to step up his game at the plate. For at least the last fifteen games, Gattis has stepped back up to become the premier right-handed power bat that Jeff Luhnow was looking for after making that trade. With Gattis’ two home runs in the win yesterday versus the Yankees, the Astros offensive woes on the road may be coming to an end behind the surging Gattis.
Let’s take a look at his stats the past 15 days for Gattis (13 games). (Stats from FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference.)
While you can’t compare many of the categories from the last 15 days to the season as a whole, you can compare the slash lines. Gattis is hitting close to .300 the past 13 games with five home runs. To put it in another perspective, if Gattis could hit this good for a whole 162 games, he would hit 62 home runs while driving in 112 runs. That is a prediction based on his last 15 days, but Gattis has proved to be inconsistent in his short time with the Astros.
The boys on Sports Radio yesterday morning on my way to work were asking where the Astros would be if it weren’t for the contribution of Gattis, Colby Rasmus, and Luis Valbuena. While fans have knocked Gattis for his lack of clutch hitting with runners in scoring position, but he still has one short of 70 RBI. While Gattis’ batting average is not sexy, his on-base plus slugging is a decent .740 for the year. The one thing that Gattis needs to focus on doing is improving his on-base average, which he has done for the past 15 days.
The Astros rode the back of Carlos Gomez and Gattis in it’s first three-game series win since late April when they swept the San Diego Padres. The Astros are heading to the home field of another playoff contender in the Minnesota Twins for a weekend series. Can the Astros offense and Gattis keep up their sudden success on the road, or did they face a playoff team that is slowly fading away?
It’s too soon to say they have totally conquered their road demons, but a series win versus the Twins would be a great step in a positive direction. Some of the swings that Gattis hit for home runs looked so simple, which means he is locked in and seeing the ball well. This could be bad news to the young Twins pitching staff. Let’s hope Gattis can keep up his recent success, because he is a player that could carry a team.