Raking Astros Head to Colorado

Hunter Brown hits the IL as road trip continues

One of the more surprising turns of events early in the MLB season has to be the Astros bats.

Even if you were a preseason believer, I’m not sure you imagined the Astros leading the league in runs scored and a host of other numbers.

I certainly didn’t.

It’s a fascinating watch that will need to continue to support a less-than-stellar pitching staff that will be without its ace for the foreseeable future.

Updated Projections

We are now 6.2% of the way through the season, so it’s obviously still early.

We will see Brown’s numbers below decrease as the missed starts pile up.

Christian Walker is up to 95 projected RBI and is off to a fantastic start.

The only Astros really on the struggle bus early is Brice Matthews, who is rocking a .118/.211/.353 slash with a 52.6% strikeout rate.

Chandler Rome has posted that Roddery Munoz has been released, but I haven’t made the change here because nothing official from the team yet.

I sometimes write about wasted roster spots. This was one and this one is on Dana Brown.

Not sure what to say about Bryan Abreu, but Hader’s loss is proving to be a big one, even if it is temporary.

Record by Starting Pitcher

Quality Starts

None since we last talked, though Imai did have a Kikuchi Start and just couldn’t get the 18th out.

Obviously, Brown’s injury makes this tougher, and with Cody Bolton starting tonight, it will almost certainly fall to 2/11.

Game Scores

Two times through the rotation and Lance’s first start against the Red Sox is the high score at 75.

Win Shares (not fWAR)

Add all these together and you get 6, which is the number of wins the Astros currently have.

Astros Expected Wins

Early-season volatility is crazy. At this stage, this is nothing but laying the groundwork for a 162-game slog.

AL West Expected Wins

An early look at the AL West expected wins.

I’ll be back on Friday with the next update.

Thanks for reading!