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How the Houston Astros went from Garbage to Gold

MLB Houston Astros Dallas Keuchel

In case you have been living under a rock this season, the Houston Astros are a good great baseball team. They literally started from the bottom and are now four games ahead of the Texas Rangers atop the AL West. With a record of 73-60 as of Tuesday, the Astros have the fourth best record in the American League.

It’s worth pointing out that they had 907 losses since their last playoff appearance a decade ago before this latest turnaround. So how did this once laughing stock of the MLB become a legit playoff contender? Let’s explore.

They eliminated the dead weight

By getting rid of strike-out machines Matt Dominguez and Dexter Fowler, the Astros shed 233 strikeouts just from two players. They have five new starters, most notebly George Springer and Jason Castro (who are both currently on the 15 day DL). They also added depth to their bench in Chris Carter and Marwin Gonzalez—both 2014 starters.

Houston also replaced 2014 managers Bo Porter and Tom Lawless with former Arizona Diamondbacks (’09-’10) manager, A.J. Hinch.

The most productive and consistent players are Jose Altuve and Evan Gattis. Altuve leads the team in batting average (.316), OBP (.359) and hits (161). Gattis leads the team in home runs (22), and RBI’s (72). Long story short, this is a vastly different team than the past two years, and a team that is consistently producing.

They drop bombs

The 2014 Astros hit a very solid 163 homeruns. However, with an entire month of baseball to play, the team has already mashed 179 home runs. Only one other team has more home runs—the Toronoto Blue Jays at 184.

However, it’s a good thing the Astros are hitting a ton of homers because they are currently tied for the second lowest batting average at .242. Only the Chicago Cubs have a lower batting average, and by one point.

There isn’t one player on the Astros who is putting up record numbers (Evan Gattis leads the team with 22). What does that mean? That the Astros are all collectively hitting home runs, and the 179 are coming from batters one through nine, a tell-tale sign of a great baseball team.

Their GM is the second coming of Billy Beane

Billy Beane became the GM of the Oakland Athletics through a more traditional route as he was a big-time prospect and played the game his entire life. Jeff Luhnow, on the other hand, did not. Ivy League-educated, Luhnow worked in many areas of business development including a global management consulting firm before being hired by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2003.

So what is the connection to Billy Beane? Data analytics-driven baseball. Luhnow became obsessed with the Moneyball way of scouting and developing players, and it has proved to work out. He changed almost everything about the way the Astros scouted and made personnel decisions based on computers and statistics rather than people and senses. Luhnow changed the way the Astros approached the draft by inventing a software program called Ground Control, which is an updated version of Moneyball. Luhnow has certainly been turning a lot of heads, but this season has really proved the method to his madness.

Two words: Dallas Keuchel

To date, Dallas Keuchel has a record of 16-6. What is even more impressive is that none of six losses came at home. The lefty is tied for second place in wins, tied for fourth in ERA (2.24), second in WAR (6.8) and has a sub-1.0 WHIP. He is also arguably the best defensive pitcher in the entire league. What is so amazing about Keuchel is that he is not overpowering like many of the other aces, but he throws with the utmost control and command. A legitimate Cy Young contender, look for the Astros to lean heavily on Keuchel come October.

A bullpen that shuts the door

The 2015 Astros bullpen not only looks different, but they pitch different as well. In 2014, the Astros had the worst bullpen ERA in baseball of 4.80. By only returning four members from the 2014 bullpen, the Astros were able to bring in fresh, veteran arms—most notably (and pricy) Pat Neshek and closer Luke Gregerson. Gregerson signed a three-year, $18.5 million deal and has racked up 25 saves, which puts him in the top ten in AL saves.

As of the start of September, the bullpen has put together a collective 2.73 ERA, which is the fourth best in the MLB. Having a great bullpen, like the Astros, is the difference between playoff bound teams and bottom of the standings teams. If the bullpen continues to limit runs, the Astros are a real World Series contender.

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