The Houston Astros lost All-Star Carlos Correa in free agency last winter and replaced him with 24-year-old rookie Jeremy Pena, who now ranks fifth among AL shortstops in WAR. They lost All-Star Justin Verlander to the injured list last week and all but called up his clone in Hunter Brown, who’s allowed two runs in two big-league starts.
This is what they do. Remember All-Star George Springer? The Astros let him walk after the 2020 season and turned to then-24-year-old Kyle Tucker, who since ranks third among AL outfielders in WAR. It's by no mistake that Houston is hurtling toward its fifth straight division title and gearing up for yet another run at the American League pennant.
“They’re a machine,” A.J. Hinch said Wednesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show before the Tigers tried to avoid a season sweep at the hands of his former team. “They’ve done a really good job, and I got to witness it up close and personal, of always filling the cupboard with tools and skillsets that translate to performance. Hunter Brown is a good example.”
Brown, 24, was a late-bloomer. He wasn’t on the radar of MLB teams until a dominant junior season at Wayne State in 2019 compelled the Astros to take him in the fifth round of the draft. They liked his riding fastball and power curve. They figured his Verlander-like mechanics would hold up in the bigs. They committed themselves to developing his best assets. Three years later, Brown is helping them win games.
It’s a process the Tigers have struggled to see through with many of their blue-chip prospects -- and a good lesson as they search for a new general manager to bring the franchise into the future.
“One of the things that I saw in my previous stops and that we’re trying to implement here, you just gotta exploit the strengths as much as possible,” said Hinch, who spent five seasons as manager of the Astros after a four-stint in the front office of the Padres. “When Hunter Brown has the high-carry fastball, it’s electric. He’s got a nice breaking ball that he utilizes, he pitches to peoples’ weaknesses, and (the Astros) teach that at a very young age. And fastball command matters, pitching to the area where there’s minimal OPS. There’s so many specifics to the development process of a player and Houston is really good at it, so they have found ways to find these gems in the later rounds of the draft and supplement with their own.”
‘Their own’ would be the players they’ve signed out of Latin America. While Pena, Tucker and Brown are all homegrown draft picks, the Astros’ rotation features 28-year-old All-Star and Cy Young candidate Framber Valdez (2.50 ERA), 25-year-old Cristian Javier (3.01 ERA) and 27-year-old Jose Urquidy (3.75 ERA), all of whom signed with Houston as amateur free agents in 2015 and began working their way up the ladder.
The Tigers’ pipeline of Latin American talent is dry, another task for the next GM to tackle.
“One of the most impressive parts of the Astros, and I hate to talk about the other team so much, is the homegrown rotation,” said Hinch. “And they’ve been able to stay healthy, they’ve been able to stay good. They’ve been great in Latin America. We tried to do that here and the injuries have derailed a little bit of that plan when you look at Mize, Manning, Skubal, things that we’ve talked about on this show and that you’ve talked about for the last five years: 'When the young pitching gets here, it can be a difference maker.' It’s like, when the young pitching gets here and stays heathy, you obviously have a better chance.”
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With the future in mind, Hinch and the Tigers plan to give lots of playing time to young players like Ryan Kreidler and Akil Baddoo down the stretch. (Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene will continue to play about every day.) Hinch said he’s had some “very direct conversations” with veterans like Jonathan Schoop and Jeimer Candelario about scaling back their roles for the rest of the reason.
“We are not going to miss out on the opportunity to try to get Kreidler 100 at-bats, to try to get Baddoo back in the flow maybe two out of every three games, (Eric) Haase is getting hot so Tucker Barnhart is going to sit a little bit. It’s not a fairness exercise, it’s an assessment that we need a little more comfort and experience with these guys to give ourselves a chance to make some proper decisions in the offseason,” Hinch said.
The most encouraging rookie recently has been Torkelson. He has an .846 OPS in 10 games since returning from Triple-A Toledo, where Hinch said Torkelson “got himself balanced and got himself mentally to a better place where he was focused more on the process and less on the results. The results will come.” He had a .577 OPS and looked lost at the plate at the time of his demotion.
“He comes back up here and we’ve seen a different temperament behind the scenes, stuff that you guys would never see,” said Hinch. “You guys are going to see the stoic Tork, always under control, an occasional outburst of frustration, a very balanced player. He’s not going to be the loudest guy in the room, he’s not going to be the guy that’s the emotional pulse of the team, he’s just going to be a steady, everyday performer. And the at-bats have been better. Four balls the other night 105 MPH (off the bat) and he didn’t get anything to show for it. Early version of Tork would have taken that very personal.”
Other highlights from Hinch’s interview on 97.1 The Ticket:
On where he’s seen improvement in Riley Greene: “His defense is better. His understanding that the first six feet are just as important as the last six feet in center field, especially with how big it is. These diving catches that he’s making, I know when you watch on TV you’re always going to see the tail end of the play. From the coach’s side of it, George Lombard and Gary Jones have really emphasized, the first six feet are what’s going to make the last six feet remarkable. If you don’t do it right on the front end, you’re not going to have a chance to make that spectacular catch. I think that’s a little bit better.
“He’s been a tick better discipline wise at the plate. When he got here, we loved the zone control, the walks. He hadn’t really gotten the ball in the air that much, really the whole time, but then he went through a spell where he was going to swing from the on-deck circle and not going to walk at all. He’s balancing that out a little bit, so the game is slowing down.”
On the Tigers’ potential interest in a reunion with Justin Verlander: “I always think you should have interest in players like that, certainly when there’s so much history and love for that guy. He’s built like you’re supposed to be built in how he’s driven and what he does. I didn’t know his process before I got to manage him and then I had his Cy Young year in 2019. And watching him come back from Tommy John, at his age and what he’s doing and how he’s transformed organizations that he’s been in, I think everybody can always hope (for a return to the Tigers). I have no idea. We don’t a have a boss yet. We’ve gotta find the leader with a vision of what that would actually look like or mean, but I understand what drives JV. JV’s about winning, so if you can establish yourself as a winning culture and a winning place, then players are going to want to come here.”
On the Tigers’ ongoing GM search: GM search: “I know Chris (Ilitch) has been very active and I’ve been updated. It’s very close to the vest here in the organization. I know Chris is looking for a difference-maker and looking for a vision and somebody that can take this forward and not keep us in the same spot that we’re at. Timing wise, it’s totally up to him. I’m not going to rush the owner or tell the owner when the timing should be. I’m trying to wrap things up here in a more positive nature. We’re going to have a pretty busy offseason ahead regardless of the timing, but we’ll see.”
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