Series Thread: Texas Rangers vs. Houston Astros in the 2023 ALCS October 15-23

[saddles]

Heaney wasn't too bad against the Astros, either.

 

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[saddles]

I would like to see our hitters called strike rates in conjunction with these chase rates.

 

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[Duane1952]

Anyone know when is the deadline to set your roster.

 

[saddles]

From Jeff Wilson:

Amelie Carol Anne Semien was born Thursday afternoon after labor was induced so that Semien wouldn’t have to risk missing any ALCS games. Amelie was due Oct. 21.

The decision to induce was made Tuesday night after the Rangers finished off a sweep in the division series.

“Once we won that game, I saw my family, hugged them, and Tarah said, ‘We’re going to induce,'” Semien said.

Semien said the past few weeks, starting with the Rangers’ season-ending West Coast road trip, were nerve-racking on and off the field. He said that he didn’t sleep much Wednesday and Thursday, but slept like a rock Friday night after accompanying the team on the flight to Houston.

The family stayed behind, obviously, but Semien left knowing that Mom and baby are healthy. He and Tarah knew the possibility of this happening is something they signed up for.

 

[saddles]

Anyone know when is the deadline to set your roster.

Sunday morning. 9:00 AM, I believe.

 

[saddles]

Each organization's Hitting and Pitching Prospects of the Year

We present our annual hitters and pitchers of the year for each farm system below, highlighted by Hitting Prospect of the Year Jackson Holliday (Orioles) and Pitching Prospect of the Year Drew Thorpe (Yankees). The honorees include 14 members of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list, including...

www.mlb.com

Rangers
Abimelec Ortiz, 1B (No. 14)
After two nondescript seasons as a pro, Ortiz batted .294/.371/.619 with 33 homers in 109 games at two Class A levels. He led the Minors in slugging, ranked fourth in homers and OPS (.990) and won MVP honors in the South Atlantic League after topping the High-A circuit with 26 homers in just 80 games.

Jose Corniell, RHP (No. 23)
Corniell also raised his game to a new level this year, pacing the Rangers system in ERA (2.92), opponent average (.194) and K/BB ratio (3.8) while striking out 119 in 101 2/3 innings between Single-A and High-A.

 

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[saddles]

From Shawn McFarland:

The Astros lead baseball in OPS (.896), batting average (.292), slugging (.526) and wRC+ (145) in lefty-on-lefty situations. As an entire team against left-handed pitching, they rank second in OPS (.809) and fifth in batting average (.271).

Impressive stuff, and it’s a lot tossed onto the plate of left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery, who’ll start Game 1 of the ALCS on Sunday at Minute Maid Park for the Texas Rangers.

“You’ve got to bring your A game,” Montgomery said Saturday. “Yordan [Alvarez] and [Kyle] Tucker are really good players, and up and down that lineup, everybody is pretty talented. So you’ve really just got to attack and execute as many as you can.”

There’s a reason Montgomery mentioned those two in particular. Tucker (.934, fourth) and Alvarez (.892, seventh) both rank top 10 MLB-wide in OPS as left-handed hitters vs. left-handed pitchers. Tucker finished one home run shy of a 30-30 season. Alvarez already has four home runs in just four playoff games this October.
Anyways, doom and gloom aside: Tucker is a .167 hitter lifetime against Montgomery with two strikeouts; Alvarez is 1 for 3 with a single and two strikeouts. And among active Astros hitters, only right-handed catcher Martin Maldonado (two home runs and a double in four career at bats) has recorded an extra base hit against Montgomery.

There’s an equal case to be made
that history doesn’t matter much in the playoffs. Montgomery pitched 6⅔ innings of one-run ball against the Astros in June with the St. Louis Cardinals, a game in which he didn’t allow a single left-handed batter to reach base, but said Saturday that there’s “probably not much” to take away from a four-month old start.

He’s probably correct. He’ll hope the same is true for his three starts against the Chicago Cubs — baseball’s second-best hitting team in lefty-lefty situations — where he allowed 14 runs in 17 total innings with the Cardinals.

The Astros slugged an even .500 against left-handed Rangers pitchers this season. Their left-handed hitters specifically, against Rangers southpaws, slashed .342/.500/.632. So it isn’t just Montgomery that has to be on the lookout, but possible Game 3 starter Andrew Heaney (who fared relatively well with a 2.75 ERA in 18⅔ innings against Houston this year), long relief man Martin Perez (who yielded a 11.25 ERA in eight innings against Houston this season) and any number of Texas’ lefty relievers, including Will Smith, Aroldis Chapman, Brock Burke and Cody Bradford.

 

[Senator_fan]

The Astros slugged an even .500 against left-handed Rangers pitchers this season. Their left-handed hitters specifically, against Rangers southpaws, slashed .342/.500/.632. So it isn’t just Montgomery that has to be on the lookout, but possible Game 3 starter Andrew Heaney (who fared relatively well with a 2.75 ERA in 18⅔ innings against Houston this year), long relief man Martin Perez (who yielded a 11.25 ERA in eight innings against Houston this season) and any number of Texas’ lefty relievers, including Will Smith, Aroldis Chapman, Brock Burke and Cody Bradford.

In 80 2/3 innings Andrew Heaney has a 4-4 record with an ERA of 3.35 and 80 strikeouts in 15 appearances versus the Astros in his career. Bradford seems to do well against right handed batters but Chapman and Burke probably shouldn’t even warm up.

 

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[scotsman1948]

It’s official: Valdez vs Eovaldi in Game 2

 

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[DT LUNA]

And Chapman is........punt!

 

[jta4437]

Figure they may piggyback him and Dunning

They'll probably piggy back with a LHP to flip the lineup

 

[Kelleyman]

I wonder if we just get Dunning in gsme 4.
Pick your spots with Heaney on paper my theory sounds right but Heaney has shown up in the limelight

 

[Kelleyman]

Going to be interesting how they use Gray