This installment of RRA is all about catcher Scott Servais. Scott was drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round of the 1988 draft. After a couple of rough seasons in the minors, he put together a solid season in AAA Tucson in 1991 and earned a call-up. He would stay with the major league club until June of 1995 when he was traded along with Luis Gonzalez to the Cubs for catcher Rick Wilkins. Scott re-signed with Houston for 2001 when he split the season between Houston and AAA New Orleans. It would be his last season in the majors.
For his Houston career Scott hit .225/.284/.357 and caught 23% of base stealers. His best season with the Astros was 1993, when he hit .244/.313/.415 with 11 homers in 291 plate appearances while finishing 3rd in the National League in fielding percentage among catchers at .996.
A pair of games for Servais stand out as strong individual efforts. On May 26, 1992 the Astros went to Montreal to take on the Expos. That afternoon Scott went 3 for 3 at the plate with two doubles and two RBI before being removed in the 7th inning for a pinch runner. Both RBI came on a two run double off of Montreal starter Chris Nabholz in the second inning that gave the Astros an early lead as Houston went on to win 9-4.
Arguably the best game of his Astros tenure came on June 11, 1993. On that night Houston went to play the expansion Colorado Rockies in Colorado for the first time. Scott was 3 for 3 with two runs scored and one RBI on a solo homerun. That homerun came in the eighth inning off Rockies reliever Jeff Parrett and tied the game back up at 4-4. Unfortunately Houston would end up losing that came 5-4.
Scott is currently assistant GM for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Prior to that he was senior director of player development for the Texas Rangers.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
