The Houston Astros own the best record in the majors, something that shouldn’t be that surprising to any fan of baseball. After all, that Sports Illustrated cover in 2014 declared the ‘Stros the Champs of 2017.
After earning a wild card in 2015, the teams first playoff trip since 2005, and blowing a commanding lead in the division series in five games to the Kansas City Royals, the Astros were unable to overcome a disappointing April in 2016, and despite solid play the rest of the year, they finished 84-78. That lack of improvement brought to light many questions about how good the 2017 team could be, and the Astros entered the season more or less as co-division favorites with the Texas Rangers, with some going out on a limb and saying that the Mariners could contend(which still could be a possibility but not for the division).
After a flurry of offseason moves that included adding multiple high caliber veteran free agents, the Astros came out of the gates firing in 2017, and now sit at 42-17, the best record in baseball by 4 games over the Washington Nationals, and 8 games ahead of the Yankees in the American League, not to mention 13 games ahead of second place in their own division.
Why are they so good? With a record like the Astros’, it’s safe to assume that they are good at essentially everything. Here are some of the Astros rankings in the American League.
Runs per game: First
Home runs: First
Batting average: First
On-base percentage: First
Slugging percentage: First
Runs allowed per game: First
Rotation ERA: First
Bullpen ERA: Fifth
Strikeout rate: First
Batting average allowed: First
Defensive Runs Saved: Seventh
One of the few flaws of this team is the defense, which they aren’t great at. The team as a whole is +5 defensive runs saved, which is solid, but not great. Alex Bregman is the only player that is an obvious liability, but as a former shortstop, he is still learning the ins and outs of being a third baseman. At -5 DRS, Bregman can definitely improve.
OFFENSE:
The Astros, over the past few seasons, have primarily been a power team that strikes out A LOT. This year however, their strikeout rate is only 17.9 percent(29th worst in the MLB), which is a huge improvement compared to 2016 and 2015, when they ranked in the top 5 for worst strikeouts. Improving to a team that strikes out the second least amount of times in the MLB(vs last year when they were fourth worst in that category) seems to be one of the bigger reasons why the team has improved so much. The home run production hasn’t dipped either, and the teams average has improved leaps and bounds over recent years.
Jeff Luhnow made some big moves that are largely responsible for the teams improvement in so many categories.
Luhnow replaced Colby Rasmus, a good-fielding but an extremely strikeout-prone outfielder, with Josh Reddick, a good-fielding, strong armed outfielder who has turned himself into one of the best contact hitters in the MLB.
Astros DHs, as a whole, fanned 166 times in 2016, third-most in the AL(which I would have guessed would be higher). To try to turn that around, Luhnow signed Carlos Beltran, a better contact hitter than anyone that DHed for the team in 2016.
Astros catchers fanned 181 times in 615 plate appearances in 2016. Luhnow traded for Brian McCann, a savvy veteran, who only struck out 99 times in over 450 plate appearances last season. Safe to say that’s a bit of an improvement over the team’s previous catcher, Jason Castro, who is now the Twins’ problem.
The Astros claimed Norichika Aoki, a contact hitter, on waivers from Seattle, and though he has been somewhat of a liability at the plate of late, he has been much better all around then guys like Colby Rasmus were last season.
The new guys are great, but incumbent players from last year have improved as well. Evan Gattis, for instance, has cut his strikeout rate from 25.5 percent in 2016, to 14.14 percent in 2017. Carlos Correa has also cut his strikeout rate. The new acquisitions, plus the improvements of holdovers from last year, has helped the Astros increase their runs per game by a full run, taking them from being a middle of the pack offensive team that relied solely on power, to the best offensive team in the AL.