For the second time in three Februarys, I had a chance to attend Houston Astros spring training in West Palm Beach. Along with a few of my SportsRadio 610 colleagues, I spent last week in Florida watching an Astros squad that looks noticeably different than the ones we’ve seen the last few years.
The last time we had the chance to attend spring training was in February of 2023. That was an Astros team that was preparing to defend its second World Series title. Dusty Baker was the manager, and the biggest new face to watch was the VERY veteran (as it turned out, far TOO veteran) first baseman Jose Abreu, the biggest free agent acquisition, at the time, on owner Jim Crane’s watch.
This time around, spring training was far more about the faces who’d recently left (or been traded away), and the new faces tasked with replacing them. Gone are franchise cornerstones Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Ryan Pressly, and Justin Verlander. Welcome in, Issac Paredes, Christian Walker, Hayden Wesneski and hot shot prospect Cam Smith.
The vibes were very different, up to and including Jose Altuve now playing left field, which might be an adventure early on. Here are my biggest observations from a week with ‘Stros in Florida:
So far, so good on the bounty from the Kyle Tucker trade
About a month ago, GM Dana Brown sent Tucker to the Cubs in exchange for Paredes, Wesneski, and Smith. It was the ideal trade for a team straddling the fence of contender and “slight resetter.” Paredes, an All Star in 2024, would be the cost controlled (for three more years) replacement for Bregman, Wesneski would take the spot in the rotation vacated by Verlander, and the crown jewel would be former first round pick Smith, who is likely at least a year away from the big leagues.
Paredes, in his first week, flashed the plate discipline that’s become a calling card (led the league in pitches per AB in 2024) and hit a home run. Wesneski was solid enough in his spring debut (2 IP, 1 ER, 3 K), and Smith was the talk of the week, with two bombs on Tuesday afternoon. So far, so good for Brown’s first trade in which he’s sending star power OUT of the building.
The Paredes and Walker Effect will be interesting to see
It’s no secret that the Astros had devolved into one of the least disciplined teams at the plate over the last two seasons. In 2024, no team saw fewer pitches per at bat on offense than the Astros. Manager Joe Espada has made the point multiple times this spring that they must change. Enter Paredes and Walker, two of the most selective and disciplined hitters in MLB. As mentioned above, Paredes led the league in pitches per AB in 2024. Walker ranked 10th. The hope is that there is some level of observational and metaphoric gravitational pull with the rest of the lineup, that they will follow the lead of their two new teammates.
Overall, the pitching looks A-okay, but it’s early
It doesn’t matter what the outlook is for each season, it just seems like the Astros always find a way to field four or five starting pitchers that get the job done. That said, 2024 was the most harrowing season from this concern, as they were ravaged with injuries in the rotation, with Christian Javier and Jose Urquidy joining Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers in the “arm surgery” club. However, the Astros got key performances from Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco, and Spencer Arrighetti to win the division again.
Now, all there of them will be fixtures, along with Franker Valdez and Wesneski, in the five man rotation. All except Blanco pitched well in the opening week. In the bullpen, we know the back end will be Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu. It was encouraging to see Tayler Scott build on last season’s surprising performance, and Forrest Whitley, the team’s first round pick from back in 2016, may be finally ready to contribute at the big league level, likely in middle relief. His early outings have been very good.
Jonathan Singleton is not going down without a fight!
It seems like every year, with every team, in every sport, when training camp rolls around, there is at least one player who draws all kinds of adulation for a positive body type change, whether it’s a smaller guy bulking up, or a bigger guy trimming down. Somehow, Jonathan Singleton managed to do both. He came in trimmed down in the midsection, but with seemingly bigger biceps.
In short, the first baseman, who struggled mightily at the plate last season, as he has for his on-again, off-again big league career, seems to finally be taking conditioning super seriously. It’s too bad for Singleton that Walker, barring injury, is undoubtedly the starting first baseman for the Astros this season, but at least it looks like Singleton should nail down a roster spot as a lefty bat off the bench. Defensively, Singleton looked dynamite last week, with catlike quickness on that corner of the infield.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
