Astros: Could booing affect opposing pitchers?

As the Houston Astros are welcomed with boos to their away games this season, it is worth analyzing whether the boos are worth it when the opposing pitcher is on the mound. While in every other sport where the offense has the ball first, the praise is around letting the offense work and be quiet, but for baseball, the defense has the ball first. It shouldn’t matter which side has it, but after the Oakland Athletics‘ struggles on the mound, could their be a correlation between their pour performances and excessive noise and booing?

Don’t get me wrong, the Astros’ bats made an expected comeback in baseball to open the season, but at some point, it feels like they faced minor league pitching every at bat. While I’m not an expert on the A’s staff, I know they have a decent rotation, that has led writers and analysts to take them to win the American League West in 2021.

While the booing continues, does it affect opposing pitchers?

While the 2020 season consisted of no fans in the stands until the NLCS and World Series, we have heard from players that they are excited to have that noise back, but at some point could it knock the focus from players? I’m not a major league pitcher, but for a prospect pitcher like Enoli Paredes, who made his debut in 2020, he looked a little shaky entering an atmosphere with a smaller roaring crowd.

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It is new trying to get used to, and after not having a full season with it, there is a chance that Oakland pitchers were negatively affected by their fans. With a healthy Astros’ lineup taking on the A’s in the Oakland Coliseum, the A’s pitching staff has started with the third worst ERA (8.25). It is early in the season, and the Astros’ bats have been on an Opening Season high.

Although not at full capacity, you can hear what fans are directly yelling, and it doesn’t sound like a combination of noises. While their pitching staff gave up the most hits on Opening Weekend, it seems like the the banging and yelling at Astros’ players wasn’t even beneficial to the A’s. This is the first series of the season, but for a decent rotation in Oakland, there could be a small affect from their home fans.

We will see how this goes, but after a tough start for the A’s, the Los Angeles Angels could easily be on a walk off high and escape with a win against the Astros. As the bats continue to smash every pitch they see, Houston’s lineup is deep from one to nine. Although only four 2017 Astros are still in the lineup, opposing fans continue their ignorance and boo players that were minor leaguers or on other teams. While most away stadiums might fill with opposing fans ready to boo, they aren’t benefitting anyone and are making themselves look foolish in the end.