ERA leaders in the AL the last 10 years among starters age 22 and under. Lance McCullers tops the list. pic.twitter.com/4nz5ey2Ox7— Matt Hammond (@MattHammondShow) July 28, 2016
*McCullers' 11.79 K/9 is #onpaceto set the franchise record by Nolan Ryan, who had an 11.48 K/9 in 1987.Career ERA coming into today:— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) July 28, 2016
Lance McCullers Sr. 3.25
Lance McCullers Jr. 3.26
Updated:
Lance McCullers Jr. 3.21
Lance McCullers Sr. 3.25
When Lance McCullers gets his spin rate above 3000 RPMs on his curve batters are 4 for 40 with 25 strike outs.— Daren Willman (@darenw) July 28, 2016
*Rasmus came alive last night, snapping an 0x29 slump and a career-high seven-game hitless streak. Rasmus:
Any time you get a hit or a home run or whatever, just to help the boys is great. Especially as much as I've been letting us down, to be able to do that against the Yankees in a game we needed to win, since they beat us the first two, I'm thankful and happy to do it.
*Rasmus has a cyst on his inner ear that will require surgery.
*Carlos Gomez joins Luis Valbuena with a strained hamstring. Now with the possibility of just one healthy player on the bench, Hinch says a move will likely be made, but it's an easy move:
...We're expecting to put Fister on paternity leave soon. His wife is going to deliver his first child in the next couple of days, so we might have a transaction in Detroit that will probably be a position player.
*AL West: the A's beat the Rangers, the Pirates beat the Mariners, the Royals beat the Angels.
-Red Oak: -
-Houston: -2.5
-Seattle: -6
-Golden State: -11
-Anaheim: -12.5
*Wild Card Watch: the Padres beat the Blue Jays, the Tigers beat the Red Sox.
-Toronto: +0.5
-Boston: -0
-Houston: -1
*FanGraphs has the Astros at 45.7% to win the division (Ramgers at 45.6%) and 62.9% to make the playoffs.
*BP has the Astros at 36.5% to win the division (Ramgers at 50.6%) and 58.2% to make the playoffs.
*FiveThirtyEight has the Astros at 39% to win the division (Ramgers at 52%) and 58% to make the playoffs.
*The County Mountie wrote up Round 3 of potential Astros trade targets.
*I wrote about the life and times of Rangers great Lucas Harrell.
*Trade talks are picking up on Brewers' catcher Jonathan Lucroy, and the Astros are apparently in the mix.
*Ken Rosenthal wrote that the Astros might be okay with letting Gattis be the catcher next year and to find a backup elsewhere, searching instead for pitching.
*Today's Knuckleball writes that Castro is the best catcher in the AL.
*MLB.com updated their prospect rankings for the midseason, and here's where we are:
Bregman (#1, yes, the #1 prospect in baseball), A.J. Reed (#38), Francis Martes (#41), Forrest Whitley (#85), David Paulino (#86), Joe Musgrove (#87), Kyle Tucker (#93).
Houston also is ranked as the 5th-best system in baseball by MLB.com.
*Francis Martes' line last night: 7IP, 1H/0ER, 9K:1BB.
*Sean Pendergast has the 10 Most Important Trades in Astros history.
*Eno Sarris has what it's like to get traded, from a player's perspective.
