Any
Astros fan over the age of 25 remembers Everett-Ausmus-(Pitcher) in the Astros'
lineup. [Stares out window] Those were the days, huh?
Back in
2004, the bottom third of the Astros' lineup produced a .242/.305/.341 slash
line, which was a significant dropoff from the top two-thirds of the lineup in
which each spot posted an OPS over .800. 7-9 combined to hit 23 home runs all
season.
Obviously
the Astros' game has changed since 2004 - both with analytics from a smart
front office, and with the switch to the AL and the designated hitter. But
still. Let's look at recent history to see how the bottom third of the 2019
Astros' lineup stacks up:
Production,
7-9 in the order, 2019:
|
Season
|
Slash Line
|
OPS
|
K:BB ratio
|
|
2019
|
.272/.348/.471
|
.819
|
2.34
|
|
2018
|
.230/.301/.388
|
.689
|
2.92
|
|
2017
|
.271/.329/.481
|
.810
|
2.52
|
Whereas
the 2004 Astros got 23 home runs from the bottom-third of the lineup, the 2019
Astros have already gotten 19 home runs from their 7-9 hitters. Again, the game
has changed. Still, last night after Marisnick went 2x3 with a single, triple, and 2RBI, he had this to say:
It's a testament to how good this lineup is. I mean, it's a dangerous lineup. It's long. We make pitchers work all the way through.
One of
the hallmarks of the 2017 Astros team was their depth. 44 games into the
season, the 2019 Astros team is deeper - and better offensively - than the 2017
World Series Champion team. This is of course a credit to both Robinson
Chirinos and Jake Marisnick: Chirinos’ 155 wRC+ is far and away the best of his
career, his previous high was 124 wRC+ back in 2017, and he’s posted 1.4 of his
career 4.8 fWAR in 33 games this season. Chirinos is absolutely an upgrade over
Martin Maldonado, who’s hitting .191/.288/.255 in 34 games for Kansas City.
Marisnick’s
hot start is nothing new – he swung the bat well early in 2017, posting a .917
OPS in April before finishing the year with a .239/.310/.488 line. Marisnick is
just hitting the ball harder this year – his 34.8% Hard-Hit rate is the highest
of his career. The strikeouts are still there for Marisnick, at 30.1% of his
PAs, but that’s still his lowest K-rate since 2016.
So how
does this stack up to the rest of the league? Again, the bottom third of the
order, 2019:
|
“Team”
|
Slash Line
|
OPS
|
K:BB ratio
|
|
Houston
|
.272/.348/.471
|
.819
|
2.34
|
|
American
League
|
.230/.302/.383
|
.685
|
2.93
|
|
MLB
|
.232/.306/.381
|
.687
|
2.80
|
Well I
certainly didn’t expect the American League, with the DH, to have worse
bottom-of-the-order production relative to the rest of MLB.
Coming
into the games of Thursday, May 16 there are only six AL teams at or above
.500. How do those six teams stack up, depth-wise?
|
Team
|
Slash Line
|
OPS
|
K:BB ratio
|
|
Minnesota
|
.275/.354/.509
|
.864
|
2.38
|
|
Houston
|
.272/.348/.471
|
.819
|
2.34
|
|
New
York
|
.270/.344/.452
|
.796
|
2.60
|
|
Tampa
Bay
|
.232/.303/.363
|
.666
|
3.55
|
|
Cleveland
|
.209/.290/.333
|
.623
|
3.14
|
|
Boston
|
.201/.289/.315
|
.604
|
2.48
|
Again,
did not expect to start this as a “look how deep the Astros’ lineup is” piece
and halfway through writing it have to stop and tip my cap to the Twins. But
here we are.
Since
expansion (1962), these are the teams with the highest sOPS+ from 7-9 in the
lineup:
|
Team
|
Slash Line
|
sOPS+
|
K:BB Ratio
|
|
2019
Twins
|
.275/.354/.509
|
149
|
2.38
|
|
1965
Reds
|
.275/.349/.437
|
148
|
1.59
|
|
1963
Twins
|
.280/.346/.431
|
142
|
1.54
|
|
1964
Red Sox
|
.275/.349/.435
|
141
|
1.50
|
|
2003
Red Sox
|
.281/.353/.490
|
141
|
1.97
|
|
2016
Cardinals
|
.273/.346/.479
|
139
|
2.26
|
|
1977
White Sox
|
.278/.356/.446
|
137
|
0.98
|
|
2019
Astros
|
.272/.348/.471
|
137
|
2.34
|
To put it
another way, the Astros have the 6th-highest sOPS+ from the bottom
of their order in the last 57 years of the American League.
Overall,
the Astros’ lineup is incredibly deep. They have a 134 wRC+ top-to-bottom (the
Twins sit at 117 wRC+). The previous record for a season since integration
(1947) was 122 wRC+ set by… the 2017 Astros. Or we can go back to 1900 and see
this:
|
Team
|
wRC+
|
|
2019
Astros
|
134
|
|
1927
Yankees
|
126
|
|
1930
Yankees
|
124
|
|
1931
Yankees
|
124
|
|
2017
Astros
|
122
|
Those are
the top five wRC+ in baseball since 1900, and the 2019 Astros are smoking
Murderers’ Row. Yes, the 1927 Yankees had their Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and
Earle Combs in the same way that the 2019 Astros have their Alex Bregman,
George Springer, and Carlos Correa. But the ’27 Yankees needed Joe Dugan and
Pat Collins like the Astros need Chirinos and Marisnick.
