Astros AM: Welcome to the Show Teoscar Hernandez!

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First MLB game: ✅
First MLB hit: ✅
First MLB HR: ✅
All in a day's work for @TeoscarH. https://t.co/gSL7jonISs pic.twitter.com/lhajIQrHtw
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 13, 2016

Teoscar Hernandez didn’t waste any time breaking into the big leagues with a bang. With the Astros leading 4-2 in the 6th inning, Hernandez pounced on a 3-2 slider and sent it deep into the Toronto bullpen. We have seen rough major league debuts from A.J. Reed and Alex Bregman. It’s nice to look at the box score and revel in Hernandez’s unreal slash line from his major league debut: .500/.600/1.250.

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

After facing the 5-0 deficit in the rained out game that “never happened” on Wednesday night, the Astros have outscored their opponents 37-17. In Houston’s first 12 games in August, they were only able to scratch across 28 runs. Now, in their last four contests, they’ve scored 37 runs. That’s right, 9.25 runs per game. That include’s last night’s 5-3 victory.

Joseph Musgrove was electric again, earning his first major league win in his third appearance. In a strange twist of fate, two of Musgrove’s appearances have come against the Toronto Blue Jays who drafted him in the 1st round of the 2011 draft. He was traded to the Astros in 2012 in the deal that sent J.A. Happ to Toronto. Happ is having a Cy Young caliber season this year, but Musgrove out-dueled the ten-year veteran on Friday night, posting a final line of 7 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 7K. His ERA sits at 1.47.

One of his two earned runs came on a solo home run off the bat of American League All-Star Michael Saunders in the 4th inning which tied the game at two runs apiece. That was the Toronto’s 9th home run against Houston this season – all nine of them have come without anyone on base.

Those solo blasts were enough to get the job done in Houston two weeks ago when the offense was struggling, but tonight the offense came through, scoring five runs against the best pitching staff in the American League who now hold a 3.65 ERA.

Next: News and Notes from Yesterday

News and Notes from Yesterday

Aug 12, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Houston Astros starting pitcher Joe Musgrove (59) delivers a pitch against Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /

Youth Movement

When Hernandez stepped onto the field Friday night, he became the 13th rookie to appear in a game for the Astros this season, the most in the majors. The New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals have each started 11 rookies. It might not have been a surprise to see this many young faces in September. Teams are known to give their younger guys a few starts in the last month of the season when the playoffs are out of sight.

With last night’s win, the Astros brought themselves with two games of the AL Wildcard and seven games behind the Rangers in the AL West. The Astros aren’t throwing in the towel. Rather they are improving their club from within with these talented young prospects.

With Teoscar's #Astros have played 13 rookies: White, Stassi, Reed, Musgrove, Moran, Kemp, Hoyt, Gustave, Feliz, Duff, Devenski, Bregman
— Matthew Bartlett (@_MBartlett_) August 12, 2016

Rather than spend these young players in the trade market, Jeff Luhnow decided to stand pat at the deadline. Since the deadline, the Astros have seen injuries to Lance McCullers, Luis Valbuena, Tyler White, Marwin Gonzalez, and Jake Marisnick. Those injuries thrust what feels like a third of the Fresno Grizzlies lineup into the starting lineup in Houston. Out of the ten starters on Friday night, four of them have played in Fresno this season: Bregman, Hernandez. Musgrove, and Tyler White.

A Bidding War for Carlos Gomez?

When Gomez was designated for assignment on Wednesday, the Astros fanbase was anxious for a clean break. According to major league rules, a player has ten days from being DFA’d to be traded or released. It looks like the Astros might be able to recoup some value from the struggling center fielder.

After the Mets had expressed interest yesterday, Mark Saxon reported that the Cardinals might be willing to kick the tires on the ten-year vet after an injury to Matt Holiday. This would be the best case scenario for the Astros who tried to give Gomez plenty of time to work through what had turned into a season-long slump.

His decline was so drastic that other teams can’t help but wonder if they might be able to “fix” the player who was in the MVP conversation as recently as 2014. Their curiosity might turn into a plus for the Astros down the line.

Yulieski Gurriel scheduled to make debut Tuesday

Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reported late Friday night that the Astros are planning to have Gurriel make his debut on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals. Through his first eight games in the Astros minor league system, the Cuban All-Star has a grand slam a respectable slash line: .321/.300/.536, that was before a 0-3 night on Friday.

When he reaches the majors, he will like to spend most of his times at designated hitter, moving to third base on days when others DH to get a rest from playing in the field. When Gurriel signed with the Astros last month, many assumed he would slide in at third immediately, but Bregman has flashed quite a bit of leather at the hot corner in his first few weeks with the big league club.

Next: Jose Altuve is Better than your Second Baseman

Bregman has made one appearance in left field with Houston, spending most of his time at third due to the injury to Valbuena. Regardless of where he lines up on the field, Astros fans are excited to get another .300 hitter into the lineup to join MVP candidate Jose Altuve (and new center fielder Hernandez).

*** Stats from Baseball-Reference ***

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