Astros Dusty Baker’s Needed New Year’s Resolution List
After a great season where the Houston Astros finished winning the American League pennant, yet fell short in the World Series, fans are looking for some resolve for next season.
Manager Dusty Baker could use several changes coming into next season that might take the Astros back to a World Series championship team.
Here are three New Year’s Resolutions for manager Dusty Baker for the 2022 season.
Trust your Pitchers
Baker had a short leash on starters both in the postseason and regular season. I will harken back to the days of Larry Dierker, who broke the mold of five to six inning starts and pushed starters to seven or eight and saving the bullpen.
With a very small pool of talent in the ‘pen, Baker needs to trust pitchers for his New Year’s resolution and allow starters to get into the seventh and eighth innings.
This is doubly true for the postseason. Often times, Baker pulled starters after giving up a run, which in the playoffs every run counts, but pulling a pitcher in the second inning isn’t helpful.
Unless a pitcher is getting shelled like Framber Valdez or Luis Garcia were in their first October outing, then leave them in unless they are giving up three or more runs. The Astros have two-to–three shutdown guys in the bullpen, so if they can get to the seventh or eighth innings, they are all but a lock to win.
Batting Order
Instead of the Baker roulette lineup he likes to play throughout the season, let the best hitters get more at-bats. Top loading the lineup with good contact, high average hitters is ideal so the power in the middle has runners to drive home.
Although Michael Brantley had a low-power production year, he hit for high average and should definitely stay in the two-hole.
Three-through-six is where the controversy lies and frankly it should be Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Carlos Correa (hopefully) and Yuli Gurriel. Until Alex Bregman regains his 30 home run and upper .200 average form, he should not be hitting third.
Based upon his last year he should be in the seven-hole after Gurriel. People might decry the move but if you have the batting champ batting seventh and no one to drive him in hitting after him you waste valuable runners on base.
If a player is struggling move them down in the lineup, like Bregman this year. Making a smarter hitting lineup should be a resolution for Baker for 2022.
Small Ball
Baker needs to drill small ball situations to score a run or two for the postseason. Relying on the long ball in October is not a recipe for success.
As we saw it play out against Atlanta, their lefty pitchers took out our only hot hitters in the playoffs and we couldn’t put together a run in crucial moments.
If the Astros can get runners on and move them over to scoring position before two outs, they stand a much better chance of getting them in than stranding runners on first all inning. Small ball and situational hitting practice should be on Bakers’ resolution list.
In addition to hitting them over, have hitters shorten up with runners on second or third, I always reference the Mark Grace approach with runners in scoring position. Grace didn’t have the big power numbers but always danced around the top of the league in RBI because he would shorten up and hit the ball to the outfield with runners in scoring position.
If the Astros did just a little of that in the World Series, they would be champions once again. The Astros left so many runners on base in the games they lost it really would make a huge difference if they hit situationally in those spots.
Improve Winning Percentages
Only one time in Baker’s coaching career has he repeated first place, and that was his last year with the Washington Nationals in 2017. Baker commanded the Nationals that season to an easy first place, as the National League East was not much of a foe, but then led his team to a collapse in the first round of the postseason, losing 3-2 to his former Chicago Cubs team.
The Astros have the team, especially if they can bring back Correa, to take them back to the World Series, as long as Baker can lead them to that spot. If Baker can make this resolution by following through on the other listed resolutions, the Astros definitely have a chance to bring back the trophy to Houston.