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Astros Report Card: Grading the outfielders’ 2019 season
The Astros just barely missed out on a World Series Trophy, but they still had a record-breaking season. Let’s pass out the players’ report cards.
The 2019 season has come to a close and the hearts of the fans and players of the Houston Astros are broken. But let’s not wallow in sorrow, we need to look back on what a great season this team and its players had.
Houston had the best record in the Major Leagues and their season record of 107-55 was the best in franchise history. They’ll hoist the American League Championship Pennant for the second time in three years.
The Nationals may have won the World Series and congratulations to them for a hard-fought battle, but I feel deep in my heart that the Astros were still the best team of the year. The Trophy may be in Washington, but this team knows who they are and what they’ve accomplished. And trust me, they aren’t done yet. The Astros are actually already favored to win it all in 2020.
New feats were accomplished, records were broken, and a few players will be taking home some hardware recognizing their accomplishments. Some players had the best season of their career and some not so much. The season is done and it’s report card time, let’s look back over the year and pass out some grades.
This will be a five-part series covering the outfielders, infielders, starting rotation, catchers/DH, and finally the bullpen. The grading of the outfielders will be the first installment.
George Springer: A+
The Astros leadoff hitter, George Springer, had a superb season and had career highs in most offensive stats. His slash line of .292/.383/.591 and .974 OPS are across the board the best he has seen in his six-year career. He also had the most home runs (39) and RBIs (96) than he has ever had in a season.
Springer knocked a franchise record 12 leadoff home runs this season and now has 36 total in his career. He is on pace to catch and surpass Rickey Henderson‘s Major League record of 81 leadoff homers.
His 156 wRC+ was second only to Mike Trout in the American League among outfielders and his 6.5 WAR was the third-highest, just a hair under the 6.6 of Mookie Betts.
Springer’s bat isn’t his only asset, he’s pretty darn good out in the field also. Among outfielders with 100 games or more this season, he was third in the AL with an 11 rdrs (defensive runs saved above average). Springer also placed in the top ten in fielding percentage with a .991. He ranked 5th overall in Fangraphs.com defensive rating.
I consider Springer the spark plug of this offense, when he gets going, the team gets going. He was selected to play in his third straight All-Star game. Springer missed 40 games due to injury this year, so you can only imagine what his numbers would have been otherwise. He will be eligible for free agency after this next season. Hopefully, a contract extension is in order.
Michael Brantley: A-
Arguably, one of the best, if not THE best, transaction in the 2018/19 offseason. All of the fanfare and rumors seemed to surround players like J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper. The signing of Brantley by the Astros to a two-year $32 million contract kind of came in under the radar.
Brantley was also chosen to be a participant of the 2019 All-Star Game. He came in third in the voting behind teammate Springer. It was his fourth All-Star appearance but was his first as a starter. He was credited with the first RBI of the game knocking in fellow Astro Alex Bregman.
When Brantley was signed, many had questions about his health and durability. In the two seasons of 2016/17 combined, he played in just 101 games. He proved there was nothing to worry about, playing in 148 games this season. Alex Bregman was the only Astro to participate in more games, appearing in 156.
His slash line for the year was .311/.372/.503 with an OPS of .875. The BA, SLG, and OPS were all the second-best of his 11-year career. He slugged a career-best 22 home runs and contributed 90 RBIs.
Brantley’s 40 doubles were tied for the most by outfielders in the American League. He had the fourth-best BA for outfielders, just behind Yordan Alvarez, but led everyone in hits with 179. As far as his defense went, he just made it into the top ten with an rdrs of 8.
Brantley had a great season and has proven to be a top offseason pickup ranking up there with the best outfielders in the league. He will also be eligible for free agency in 2021, the same year as Springer. So you can see the importance of trying to secure one or both with extensions.
Josh Reddick: C+
Josh Reddick had a down year as far as his career numbers go and he would probably be the first one to tell you so. But compared with the rest of the American League, he was mostly in the middle of the pack offensively and above average defensively.
His slash line for 2019 was .275/.319/.409 with an OPS of 89. Those stats rank around the fourth-worst numbers in his 11-year career. His wRC+ of 94 and 1.0 WAR both place him place 35th in the American League.
Defensively he fared better and we all can remember his home run-saving catches at the wall. He had an rdrs of 9 placing him just above Brantley for 9th in the league.
Reddick had a great season when he was brought into Houston in 2017, but his numbers have declined in the last couple of years. He is coming up on his final year of a 4-year contract that pays him $13 million in 2020. With Kyle Tucker coming onto the scene, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Reddick’s name floating about in trade rumors this offseason.
Jake Marisnick: C-
Marisnick has gotten in more regular playing time these last five years appearing in 100 games or more since he came up to the Major Leagues in 2013. This season’s offensive contributions rank down toward the bottom of those five years.
He slashed .233/.281/.383 with an 80 OPS+. His 1.1 WAR was just above Reddick at 34th in the league and his 86wRC+ was ranked 44th in the AL. Marisnick’s rdrs of five placed him 18th in the league defensively. Although, his speed did come in handy at times out in the field and on the bases and many times when the Astros had a slim lead he would come in to replace Reddick.
Marisnick found himself in a competition last Spring just to make the 25-man roster. I feel he could find himself in that same situation this offseason, that is if he isn’t used as trade bait.
Kyle Tucker: B
Kyle Tucker was called up in September of this year and took more advantage of the opportunity than he did in his July call-up of last season. So much so, he even made the postseason roster for the ALDS, ALCS, and the World Series.
Many people were calling the top recruit a bust last season when he ended the season with a BA of .141. In his 28 games and 72 plate appearances last year, he had no home runs, just four RBIs and one stolen base.
dark. Next. Astros: Inconsistent closers since Pujols home run
The patience of the front office seems to be paying off. In the same amount of PA as last year, he slashed .269/.319/.537 with an OPS+ of 118, including four homers and five stolen bases. It will be fun to see what he does this upcoming Spring Training, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in the starting lineup come regular-season time in 2020.