The Astros opened their spring training schedule with a 2-1 loss to the Nationals on Saturday afternoon in West Palm Beach. While no veterans were in action, Joe Espada’s lineup was littered with guys fighting to make the Opening Day roster, making the first half of the game somewhat interesting. Here are some notes and thoughts from the game’s first five innings.
- Zach Cole has talked about wanting to be more patient at the plate, and he took that to another level on Saturday. Cole offered at just one of the 14 pitches he saw against the Nationals, working two walks and striking out, but he wasn’t given much to swing at. Nine pitches he saw were out of the zone, per Baseball Savant, and he didn’t offer at any them. of the four strikes he took, three were borderline.
- While he wasn’t aggressive at the plate, Cole was aggressive on the basepaths. He stole three bases, and he was thrown out trying to advance to third on a fly ball to right field. His jumps weren’t great, but overall, it was a good first day for Cole, who appears to have a leg up on the Opening Day left field job.
- Brice Matthews made a nice play at second base and did not swing at a pitch outside the strike zone in three plate appearances
- Joey Loperfido’s three-pitch strikeout on all fastballs in the second inning was rough, even though it came against a lefty. Things did get better when he worked walks in his next two plate appearances.
- César Salazar had two hits and made hard contact on a third ball while throwing out a runner trying to steal second by a mile. That’s a perfect way to start spring for a player trying to win the backup catcher job.
- Colton Gordon is probably a little further down the list of candidates for one of those final rotation spots, but a 1-2-3 first inning against the Nationals’ regulars is a good start to the spring. Only four of his 11 pitches were in the strike zone, but he did generate some chase — something that eluded him last season — including a 1-2 fastball above the zone to Dylan Crews that resulted in his lone strikeout of the day.
- AJ Blubaugh is in the same boat as Gordon, and while he didn’t allow a run in his inning of work, he had trouble locating his pitches. Blubaugh threw nine four-seam fastballs, but only two were in the zone, and most of his misses were well above the zone. In total, only six of his 18 pitches were in the strike zone. One of those misses was a well-executed changeup that Abimelec Ortiz was able to lay off.
- Peter Lambert worked around a couple of hits to put up a zero in the third inning. A second-round pick in 2015, the 28-year old is back in the States after spending last season in Japan and is likely ticketed for Sugar Land’s rotation to start the year. Lambert’s fastball velocity was up Saturday from where it was when he pitched for the Rockies two years ago, and all six breaking balls he threw were in the zone. There’s been a long list of pitchers who have gotten better in recent years after leaving the Rockies’ bubble, so Lambert is someone to watch over the next couple of months.
- Miguel Ullola’s one inning of work was underwhelming to say the least. His fastball averaged just 93.5 MPH and he couldn’t throw it for a strike, and his slider had absolutely no bite. Making matters worse, Ullola only threw 9 of his 26 pitches in the strike zone, and he did not generate a swing on any of the 17 pitches that missed.