OAKLAND, Calif. — Everything that makes Chas McCormick unlucky in 2023 betrays him in 2024, whether it’s his ability to catch balls, adjust the length of his swing or simply trying to win for the Houston Astros.

McCormick, named an everyday player this winter, worked in a part-time role. Manager Joe Espada started him Monday for the third time in Houston’s last nine games. According to Baseball, he entered the Oakland Coliseum with 0.3 innings before batting twice more against the Oakland Athletics.

“I’ve never had that fight,” McCormick said before the game. “I’ve never felt that way at the plate. Mentally you just have to be strong. You just have to enjoy the game and take every pitch seriously.”

“Rehan, it goes to your head, but at the same time, we are at the end of the season and I have to find a way to help the team win. I don’t need to be mentally exhausted playing this game.”

McCormick’s illness raises concerns about his roster spot and Houston’s bench situation. Espada is far more prone to hitting his shots and creating platoon matchups late in games than his predecessor, meaning every spot on the 26-man roster needs more attention.

The Astros tried to add one of those on Monday by adding reliever Aledmys Diaz, a right-handed hitter from Espada, to see how he fits in. How much they can afford to carry McCormick alongside him is a legitimate question that won’t be answered until Kyle Tucker returns from the injured list next month.

There may be more clarity by next week’s trade deadline, but one has to wonder how much McCormick’s performance has reduced his value.

Firing him after 163 dreadful at-bats also seemed short-sighted, but Houston’s lack of capital and top-notch outfield make him hard to dismiss. A more realistic approach might be to acquire another right-handed hitter to replace McCormick on the bench and send him to Triple-A in hopes of a mental checkup.

“My job now is to find a way to help this team win every time I get in the lineup, every time,” McCormick said. “We’ve been playing good baseball, so there’s no time to talk about it or be sad. That’s life. Life is going to be tough at times. I’ve got to do a good job to help this team win and start playing better.”

McCormick has a .570 OPS after 179 plate appearances. A groin injury limited him earlier this season, but he has made 30 appearances in 96 appearances since being activated off the injured list on May 21. Two more hits Monday night raised his season hit rate to 29.8 percent.

Chas McCormick is pitching at a faster rate than he did in the 2023 season. (Greg Fium/Getty Images)

“My at-bats haven’t felt like that,” McCormick said. “I was behind on hits. It’s normal when you struggle.”

Of the 16 hits he has gotten since returning from the disabled list, only six have gone for extra bases. McCormick has just nine extra-base hits all season and enters Monday with a .306 slugging percentage. The implied slugging percentage of .357 shows some bad luck, but it’s misleading to blame him.

McCormick’s problem is much simpler and somewhat surprising. Last season, he established himself as one of the best fastball hitters in baseball. This season, fastballs are contributing to his downfall. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

According to Baseball Savant, McCormick had 22 strikeouts against four-hit balls last season. Only Atlanta Braves slugger Matt Olson was one higher. McCormick hit .358 and .745 against the 528 four-seamers he faced.

McCormick entered Monday’s game hitting .157, slugging .275 and sporting a minus-3 earned run value against four-seamers. His 33.3 percent field goal percentage against them is 7 percent higher than what he posted last season.

McCormick had 11 catches against four-seamers last season. He has three extra strikeouts against them this year, the result of a long swing and too much movement in his setup.

“I’ve always been very good at fixing and shortening, and I had a hard time doing that. There are so many different moves in my rotation that it takes me a while to get into the warm-up,” McCormick said.

“If I’m short, I know I’m still a good fastball hitter. It’s not necessarily about starting earlier or later, it’s just about simplifying the motions: getting down low and then getting ready to hit, getting behind the ball. There’s no plan, but I’m ready to jump because I know I’m late.”

The arrival of Joey Loperfido, the elite exit velocity of Trey Cabbage and the contact ability of Mauricio Dubon have coincided with McCormick’s decline, and he can now only be deployed against left-handed pitching by a bench of Espada. McCormick has a career .889 OPS against lefties, so the skipper gave McCormick four such at-bats. He lost three of them.

Espada threw 55 hits in Houston’s first 99 games, a result of his modern style and the absence of Tucker and the first baseman. For reference, the Astros had 72 total hits last season and 76 during their World Series-winning campaign in 2022.

“It’s not been years since we had some guys that were in established positions,” Espada said Monday. “Right now, we’re just moving some pieces around and trying to put players in the best positions to be successful.”

Entering Monday’s series opener, Diaz had played in 30 major league games all season. He had three singles and seven walks before Oakland designated him for assignment. Houston signed him to a minor league contract earlier this month and did not expose him to an offseason affiliate before promoting him Monday.

Doing so doesn’t automatically strengthen the Astros’ bench. Diaz has an 86 OPS+ in 316 games since 2020, but it allows for at least a higher ceiling than Gray Kessinger has ever used.

Now, the question is: can anyone else do the same for McCormick?

(Foto superior: Thomas Shea/USA Today)

2024-07-23 14:45:06
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