- 13 hours ago
Seth and Sean discuss their excitement at actually having an Astros Spring Training game on TV and overreact to what they saw in it.
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00:00I enjoyed having the Astros back on my television on Saturday.
00:03I enjoyed having that in-depth Astros talk radio show
00:10that was playing, well, the background of a baseball game.
00:12That was kind of what it was.
00:13That's true.
00:16I get frustrated.
00:17You know, sometimes during an actual regular season game
00:19when they're interviewing the promotions person or whatever or anything,
00:22I get a little bit frustrated with that sometimes.
00:24And I had to keep reminding myself, okay, yes, ultimately,
00:27this is a bunch of Astros prospects playing against a bunch of Nationals prospects,
00:31and I got to just settle the hell down.
00:34I don't need to see – I don't need commentary on every Colton-Gordon pitch.
00:37Yes.
00:38Right?
00:38No, no, no.
00:39I don't think you do.
00:40Yeah, that's – yeah.
00:41So I'll listen to Joe Espada talk about how they're going to handle
00:44the new ABS Challenge system and Dana Brown talking about
00:48they still might have another trade going and things like that.
00:51That was a frustrating thing.
00:52They were interviewing Joe Espada.
00:53It was a good interview.
00:54I liked everything.
00:54I liked everything about it.
00:55But at the same time, there was a lot of activity on the base pass in that inning.
00:59There was a stolen second base.
01:02There was a throwout at third.
01:03There was a lot going on.
01:04They scored.
01:04That was the one inning they scored in in that game.
01:06They lost 2-1.
01:09So my observations in there, just a few observations,
01:15Zach Cole, who batted leadoff for the Astros, got on base, walked, I believe.
01:20The Astros had 11 walks and managed to turn that into one run.
01:23So Astros baseball is definitely back.
01:28They're in mid-season form.
01:29It was – yeah.
01:31You want power?
01:32Yeah.
01:33No, we got a lot of walks and a lot of guys left on base.
01:36Zach Cole, the first guy to get on base for the entire spring training,
01:40getting thrown out by 15 feet at third base, made me feel like, oh, yeah,
01:45Astros baseball is back, baby.
01:47I was all right with that because it was – you know,
01:49they're encouraging aggressive base running and everything.
01:51And that was a hell of a throw from right field.
01:53Pinckney, yeah.
01:54Yeah, Pinckney.
01:55That was a – he gunned him down.
01:56That guy's a monster.
01:57He's a big dude.
01:58Yeah, that was a nice throw.
01:59Okay, this is probably – if I'm going to take one play out of this spring
02:02training game and attach emotion to it, Bryce Matthews at the end of,
02:08I don't know, second or third inning.
02:09It was early in the game, making a diving play, like a really nice diving
02:15play at second base to save a run was super depressing because I know what's
02:21coming in the regular season at second base defensively.
02:24Oh, yeah.
02:25And it's not Bryce Matthews.
02:26And it's not him diving to – it's whoever's playing there most of the time
02:30is not going to be diving to his left, stretching out,
02:33and making plays like he made.
02:35This is my way of saying Jose Altuve is going to be the one playing second base.
02:39So seeing a gold glove caliber play at second base in spring training was like,
02:43oh, that's right.
02:45If you're trying to keep the balance sheet at least just to make yourself feel
02:50better psychologically.
02:51Oh, yeah.
02:52Look, I said before that right now they've got three Jake Marisnyks in the
02:57outfield, which might be a little bit of an insult both to Jake Marisnyk
03:01and Jake Myers, but the sum total of it all is, all right,
03:04you've got some good defensive players out there potentially.
03:07You know, Jake Myers and Cam Smith, very good defensively.
03:10Zach Cole has all the ability in the world to be very good defensively.
03:14So when it is those three guys out there, if that's what it ends up being,
03:19okay, maybe they make up for a good chunk of whatever you miss with Jose Altuve.
03:23No, that's – and that's fine.
03:25And Altuve is obviously in a different universe than Bryce Matthews offensively.
03:28I get that.
03:29Like, yeah, it's just – it's just seeing that one play, I'm like, oh, yeah.
03:32That's right.
03:33That's not happening in the regular season.
03:35They left the bases loaded in the third just like old times.
03:39It was interesting, though.
03:40This was the first game that we're getting in 2026 with the ABS challenge system.
03:46I know they experimented with it in spring training last year.
03:49You and I were at a game where the Astros used their challenges almost
03:52immediately in that game.
03:54It felt like just to see what the system – how the system worked.
03:57You know, like they were giving the system a test drive or whatever.
04:00I thought what was really interesting about that game on Saturday was that
04:06Zach DiCenzo was up with the bases loaded and one out,
04:10and he gets like a 3-1 count, and there's a pitch that is a marginal pitch
04:14on the inside part of the plate.
04:16And I thought – I don't know if it was Callis or Blum, one of them,
04:19brought up the fact that, man, a little like making challenges in the NFL
04:23where sometimes you know there's a lesser chance of you winning the challenge,
04:27but it's a high enough leverage situation to where the chances that –
04:32you know, even if you only feel like you've got a 40% chance of winning it,
04:35well, the upside is the bases are loaded.
04:37If you win that challenge with three balls, you win that challenge,
04:40a run comes home.
04:41So I thought that was interesting because I had not thought about the strategy
04:44behind it, like as to when to use it sometimes.
04:48And that's the really interesting part about it, though,
04:50is that it's also – you're not allowed to look to the dugout
04:53to make the decision or anything.
04:54Yeah, it's on DiZenzo in that moment.
04:56So it's on the player.
04:57So there's two parts about that.
04:59On the one hand, DiZenzo's a younger player, just trying to make the squad.
05:02You don't necessarily want to have his head filled up with strategic instructions
05:05before he goes out to his at-bat.
05:06But on the other hand, as a younger guy, he's already had experience
05:10with the pitch challenge system in the minor leagues.
05:13So ideally, maybe if it were in the regular season
05:18and he were a full-time player or something,
05:21that's exactly what he would have done in that moment.
05:24I'm not trying to get all worked up about a strategic decision
05:27in a meaningless spring training game,
05:29but it is a little bit of a foreshadowing maybe of, man, these are the stuff –
05:33if the Astros are going to screw up with base running errors,
05:35if the Astros are going to have poor judgment at the plate,
05:38let's also not also be bad at our challenges.
05:40Yeah, no, that's the thing.
05:41I'm not upset at all about the way the game play.
05:45I just – there's more a me thing.
05:47Like, oh, I hadn't even thought about that,
05:49that there might be instances that you wouldn't challenge it
05:52if it was basically 3-1 and it was that pitch.
05:55But if its base is loaded and it's 3-1, yeah, use a challenge there.
05:59That's exactly the time to use it.
06:00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:01So I haven't thought about that.
06:03In the third inning, if you're going to play this like a normal regular season game,
06:07the hazardous part is that once you miss on two challenges,
06:10you don't get any more challenges.
06:11You don't get any more.
06:12And I think in the regular season, there would be a lot more that goes into it.
06:17Like, if that's scoo ball pitching and you've got the bases loaded
06:19and that happens, you hell yes use a challenge
06:22because this might be your only look at getting a run home, that kind of thing.
06:26So there's a lot of – I think it's really interesting.
06:29There's a lot of wrinkles as to when and to when not use the challenges.
06:33You know, I didn't hear Espada answer this directly
06:36or even if he was asked about it when they were talking about the challenge system,
06:39but I wonder if there's guys like, for example, if Bregman were on the team.
06:43Bregman would have carte blanche with me to use the challenge
06:45if he felt it should be used.
06:47Right.
06:47Whereas Jose Altuve would have a – he would have a – he would have like a shock collar on.
06:53The second his arm got near his helmet, he'd go –
06:57Altuve will be the first to get one of those penalties that he used to get in the NFL
07:02when a coach throws a challenge flag when he's not allowed to use the challenge flag.
07:07The Jim Schwartz, that's right.
07:08The Jim Schwartz, yeah.
07:09The Jim Schwartz versus the Texans dynamic that Altuve might like challenge it
07:13like in whatever situation where he's not allowed to challenge it.
07:16Yeah, it's just –
07:17Whatever the equivalent of not tagging second is.
07:20Well, the other thing I saw too, Seth, about this is that the Astros lost
07:24their second game of the spring training yesterday 6-5
07:28to the game I'm referring to in all these bullet points.
07:32There's the one on Saturday that they played the Nationals.
07:34They played the Cardinals yesterday.
07:35They lost 6-5 and the final batter, you know, I don't know if he struck out to end the
07:41game
07:41or whatever, but I guess it was a marginal pitch and he must have struck out.
07:47And people were making the point like, you still had a challenge left.
07:49You may as well use it.
07:50Yeah.
07:50You know, you may as well just, you know, smoke them if you got them kind of thing.
07:53You may as well use it.
07:54And if you lose it, then you're still losing the game anyways.
07:57Yeah.
07:57So you may see – we may see some very anticlimactic things happen at the end of games this year
08:02where teams that still have a challenge left over, if it's a close pitch,
08:06are using it just to – go ahead and we may as well use it.
08:09Well, I'll tell you, I mean, yeah, you'd say it's anticlimactic,
08:11but it's not a big waiting period like it is in the NFL.
08:14It's a very, very quick process.
08:15No, that's true.
08:16I mean, it's a few seconds and then they display it up on the scoreboard whether it was –
08:20as it should be because it's a computer making the decision.
08:24That's the other thing too is that even the broadcast is trying to get into regular season form.
08:28Yeah.
08:29The Cesar Salazar challenged a ball strike call from the catcher's position, challenged it,
08:36was successful, and you could tell like Callis and Blum were like, here we go.
08:40This is what the challenge process looks like.
08:43Yeah.
08:43And they had a graphic up on the screen and clearly the graphic should have eventually turned into something
08:47that says ball or strike and it was just frozen and it didn't do anything.
08:52And eventually you just hear the umpire on the PA mic go, the ball – the pitch has been overturned
08:58to a strike.
08:58Yes.
08:59And Callis and Blum were like, well, this will be a lot better when we get this graphic thing.
09:03That's why it's good that they're doing some of the spring training.
09:06They do 10 spring training games.
09:08They've got 10 chances to get it right.
09:10That's it.
09:10Yeah, the other big one is just – I had read this, but then Blum reaffirmed it yesterday.
09:17For the most part, pitchers are trusting their catchers to make the decision.
09:20You don't necessarily want pitchers who don't have as good a vantage point
09:24and also might have their emotion a little bit more involved in it.
09:27Yeah.
09:27You don't – like, yeah, which pitchers are you – which pitchers would you trust most to actually make the
09:34challenge?
09:34Well, Framber would have been the Altuve in this analogy for sure.
09:37Yeah, Framber would not be allowed to make any of the –
09:38For sure, but he's not here anymore.
09:40I would try – I think I trust Hunter Brown in that situation.
09:43Seems pretty level-headed, pretty even-keeled.
09:46Do I trust Emai?
09:49Emai thus far has come across as a guy who's a lot of fun, for one thing.
09:54Yeah.
09:54But we haven't seen him pitch.
09:55He's very excitable.
09:56Very excitable.
09:56He's very demonstrative.
09:57Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:58But it doesn't – we don't know yet whether it's, like, in a super aggressive way when he's pitching or
10:02anything.
10:03Yeah.
10:04Did you see that Taylor Trammell was really impressed with Tutsu?
10:07I said, yes.
10:08He's the most excited I've ever gotten by a Taylor Trammell quote.
10:11He's splittering.
10:11In my long history of getting excited about Taylor Trammell quotes.
10:14This is Brian McTaggart.
10:16Taylor Trammell on – Taylor Trammell and his 78 career OPS plus.
10:22Taylor Trammell on Emai's splitter.
10:23Be honest with you, I played this game for 24 years now, 11 professionally.
10:27Actually, I've never seen a pitch like that before in my life.
10:30Talking about a splitter.
10:31That's right, baby.
10:32The Emai splitter, baby.
10:33Yeah.
10:34Here was –
10:34Spada said his – what was he talking about?
10:37Oh, he was talking about his slider, I think, because it just doesn't break the way most people's do.
10:41He's got – it sounds like he's got some very unique pitch shapes.
10:45Yeah, he's going to – it sounds like he's going to be going against competition later on this week,
10:49so that'll be fun to watch.
10:50Here, real quick, here's Brian McTaggart on Emai.
10:53His stuff looks electric, like – and that's what we heard, right, that he has electric stuff.
10:56So, I think the Astros are still working him slowly, trying to get a feel of what his routine is
11:02going to be.
11:02So, I have not seen him face hitters yet, but that's going to be probably coming up here, I guess,
11:07maybe in the next week,
11:08and then maybe into games shortly after that.
11:11But so far, it looks like he's positive energy in the clubhouse,
11:14and a guy that looks like he's pretty comfortable so far,
11:17trying to get his feet wet here in a new culture and with a new team.
11:19I'm very anxious to watch some spring training ball with Emai later this week.
11:23And that was obviously before he had taken his live VP versus all those guys.
11:27El Tuve, you got – El Tuve at one point just kind of laughed and shook his head
11:31because he just, again, didn't expect what he saw from Emai.
11:35Yeah, yeah.
11:35They're still getting used to all of his pitches.
11:38I'm excited about Emai, man, for sure.
11:40I'm excited about Emai.
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