Astros takeaways: Isaac Paredes' influence, late-game outfield moves and Chas McCormick's role
HOUSTON — Seventeen innings is not a sample size to lose sleep over, so Joe Espada stayed encouraged. His new-look lineup remained the only one in the sport without an extra-base hit but did fulfill an objective.
'Look back (at) last year and tell me when we walked nine times in two days,' Espada requested following Friday's 3-1 loss against the New York Mets.
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The answer, appropriately, is that the Houston Astros drew exactly nine walks over a two-game stretch nine times last season. They also had 10 other two-game spans that featured more than nine walks, fitting for a lineup that drew the fourth-fewest free passes in the sport.
Runs, not walks, are required to win games, so some of Espada's excitement fell on deaf ears. Eighty-three plate appearances passed before his Houston Astros had their first extra-base hit of the 2025 season — a solo home run that Jeremy Peña snuck over Daikin Park's 19-foot high left-field wall on Saturday.
A frame later, Yordan Alvarez supplied the second, annihilating Griffin Canning's elevated slider 416 feet off the facade of Houston's bullpen. Isaac Paredes flew from first to home on the double. No player felt more fitting to score a series-deciding run.
Paredes is generating the least fanfare among an army of Astros newcomers, but he brought a new dimension this lineup desperately needed. Across Houston's first three games, Paredes personified the front office's offseason objective: addressing a lineup that grew far too aggressive last season.
Paredes saw 65 pitches across the 12 plate appearances he took against the Mets. He collected just one hit in the series — a single in Friday's loss — but provided plate appearances that can be contagious for a lineup trying to reverse its tendencies.
'He saw more pitches than what I did in half of last season,' utilityman Mauricio Dubón joked after Saturday's series-clinching win. 'Me and Peña were talking about it, he makes the pitcher work and it helps us a lot. That's who he is.'
'He's a guy that can put 40 (home runs) in the (Crawford) Boxes, but at the same time he can take his walks. We're grinding at-bats. We're seeing pitches. I don't know how many pitches I saw today, but I saw a career high probably.'
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Dubón saw 13 during his three plate appearances, a massive amount for a player who averages 3.51. Prospect Cam Smith saw 23 in four plate appearances on Friday, while new first baseman Christian Walker watched 28 during his first eight plate appearances as an Astro.
Production remains a baseball team's foremost priority. Houston scored just six runs in three games while finishing 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position. Thirteen of the lineup's 15 hits were singles. Striking out 23 times makes it difficult to take pride in plate discipline or patience, but Espada left the series more encouraged than the numbers may suggest.
'That stuff matters,' Espada said. 'If you do that throughout a season, you're going to find yourself getting on base and giving your teammates opportunities to hit with people on base and you're going to get yourself some good pitches to hit.'
Carrying Cam Smith on the Opening Day roster removed any chance for Chas McCormick to carve out an everyday role.
'But, my whole career here, have I been an everyday player?' McCormick asked before not playing during Friday's 3-1 loss. 'Maybe for a month or two out of my five years I've been here.'
It's a pertinent question from a player whose role has always been debated. Even during McCormick's breakout 2023 season, former manager Dusty Baker refused to label him a 'big boy,' sharing concerns internally about McCormick's weight while measuring his playing time.
McCormick took 457 plate appearances that year. Seven Astros accumulated more, though McCormick did battle a back injury early in the season. McCormick hasn't taken more than 407 in any other season, allowing him at least some solace as he transitions to his new normal.
A subpar spring sunk any hopes McCormick had to seize the right-field job. Asked whether Smith's inclusion on the Opening Day roster surprised him, McCormick replied 'No, not really.'
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'Obviously, I wanted to start Opening Day. That's a huge honor. And I want to be able to play (and see) them give me a chance to play every single day. But I know they still will give me a chance, even if I'm not playing every day and I've been in this role before,' said McCormick, who started in center field on Saturday and reached base twice.
'Was it hard individually? Yeah, obviously, you want to play every single day. But at the same time, I know where I'm at and I know where my role is.'
McCormick is opening up his stance in hopes of doing more damage against elevated pitches or those in the middle of the strike zone. The strong plate discipline he showed in spring remains intact — he worked a five-pitch walk on Saturday — but McCormick's path to playing time must involve doing more damage.
McCormick's decision to lay down a sacrifice bunt during Thursday's season-opener — against a left-handed reliever, no less — seemed suspect in the moment, but may speak to how hard he is still searching for his swing.
'My job is to play defense, move runners over,' McCormick said. 'I'll get opportunities to play and hit and swing, but my swing definitely feels better from the beginning of spring training until now. I've been doing some things. We'll see, but I definitely feel better.'
Saturday offered the first test in Houston's post-Ryan Pressly world. Starter Spencer Arrighetti threw six impressive innings, staking his club to a one-run lead. Setup man Bryan Abreu and closer Josh Hader were available to pitch, meaning Espada needed one arm to build a bridge.
The skipper chose southpaw Bryan King, a fast-rising, former Rule 5 pick who may now hold the title as Houston's third-most trusted reliever. King required 13 pitches to retire the middle of New York's order, sandwiching strikeouts of Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte around Mark Vientos' flyout.
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'He's just super confident,' Espada said. 'That 92-93 (mph) plays up. He's got a really good slider. That fastball sneaks up on you. He's pitching very confident right now and he knows that he's going to get his opportunities.'
Summoning King seemed logical given two left-handed hitters were looming, but Espada — and everyone else in Houston's dugout — should've known Mets manager Carlos Mendoza would deploy one of the four right-handed hitters on his bench.
When Marte arrived, King froze him with three well-located four-seamers on the outer-half: a key to neutralizing the platoon advantage.
'Coming through the minors, I was never told I had a good fastball until I got here and they were like, 'Hey, there's something special there,'' said King, who uses above-average extension to allow his fastball to play up. 'That's definitely something we've used. I think that helps play with the other pitches — the sweeper, two-seam. It's a good combo that freezes hitters a lot.'
Deploying such an inexperienced outfield could present daily dilemmas for Espada, a manager unafraid to use his bench when a win is within his grasp.
'Once you go into the eighth or ninth inning and I'm bringing in two of the best relievers in the game, I feel like the game should be over,' Espada said, 'so I'm going to protect that lead with defense.'
And so, on Thursday and Saturday, he did. With Abreu and Hader ready to protect slim leads, Espada made a flurry of late-game substitutions that may soon become the norm, underscoring Houston's rationale in constructing its Opening Day roster.
On Thursday, Espada removed Smith from right field in the eighth inning in favor of McCormick. McCormick started in center field on Saturday, but shifted to right in the eighth inning so Jake Meyers could play center.
A frame later, Espada lifted Altuve from left field. Mauricio Dubón, who started the game at second base, replaced Altuve in the outfield while Brendan Rodgers played second.
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Dubón in left, Meyers in center and McCormick in right is the team's best defensive outfield, but it's worth wondering how many times Espada will be able to construct it.
That there were five spots in the batting order ahead of Altuve's made Saturday's decision somewhat easier, though that isn't a luxury he'll often find. Still, as Espada pointed out, he made all these moves with two lethal bats still sitting idle on the bench: Smith and catcher Yainer Diaz.
'I have the best closer in the game coming in,' Espada said. 'Jose understands the situation that we're in — we're trying to get three outs.'
(Top photo of Isaac Paredes and Jeremy Peña: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
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