Former Astros catcher and pitcher headed to Olympics

With the 2020 Olympics being commenced in the summer of 2021 in Tokyo, the Team USA baseball roster has been announced. The Houston Astros are lucky enough to have two of their own alumni headed to the games; those players being LHP Scott Kazmir and catcher Tim Federowicz.

The rosters aren’t allowing any current active MLB players, so that is why we aren’t seeing a stacked All-Star roster. Especially with the season in full swing, it doesn’t seem plausible to have the super stars headed to Japan.

The roster doesn’t look stacked on paper, but with other countries having to follow the same rules, the games could get interesting. Team USA has the talent and experience to compete for Gold, but I wouldn’t count out other countries with a respectable track record of producing talent.

With Team USA headed to Tokyo, let’s take a look back at the former Astros competing in the games.

From the 2018 Astros, Tim Federowicz will be one of the backstops for Team USA. Many fans might not remember the right-hander, as his time in Houston was fairly short. In December of 2017, he signed a minor-league contact with the team, after bouncing around the majors for three years before.

In only 10 games with the team at the major-league level, Federowicz slashed .206/.229/.294 in 40 at-bats. While a replacement for injuries, this line wasn’t heavily appreciated, as he was designated for assignment on June 8, 2018. While never claimed off waivers, the right-hander was then DFA’d again on June 26, where he elected free agency rather than being out-righted to Triple-A.

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Federowicz is currently a minor-league catcher for the Triple-A OKC Dodgers. He recently traveled with the team to Sugar Land to face the Skeeters.

Looking back to the 2015 Astros, Scott Kazmir can be a name that few fans remember for his time with Houston, but it wasn’t just with the Astros. Kazmir is a journeyman; best way to describe him. The left-hander is now 37-years-old and made his first MLB appearance since 2016 this season with the San Francisco Giants. He was later DFA’d.

Kazmir appeared in 13 games with the ’15 Astros, where he posted a 4.17 ERA. This isn’t the only place in Houston that fans remember Kazmir, as he is also a Houstonian himself and pitched for the Skeeters in 2012. The Oakland A’s traded Kazmir to the Astros in July of 2015, while he was granted free agency during the following offseason.