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Speaker 1: He's the Maccomis Show with Rock eleven O three on

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Sports Talk seven on a let's spend ten quality minutes

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with our friend, a fine University Houston graduate, longtime beat

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writer for MLB dot Com at astros dot com Brian

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McTaggart every Thursday here on the radio program five and two.

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Are we raising the flag for an American League West

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title at the Dinkin Park? Brian mctagger.

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Speaker 2: I don't think so. Probably not a wise thing to do,

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but it does seem like the Astros have gotten off

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the slow starts year after year pretty much. So yeah,

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I mean after the first homestand I think you take

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five and two for sure, especially after the way the

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first two games went all right.

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Speaker 1: We were asked to this from our audience earlier. What

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is one or two of the most surprising things you

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have seen so far during this winning streak.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just the quality of the advanced

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I mean, and they preached this all offseason and into

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spring training, and even I don't know if you remember

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the first few Great Fruit League games, the spot as like,

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oh we drew six walks, drew seven walks, and they

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were excited about the different approach that they have, but

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it's really been a point of emphasis with the new

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hitting coaches and their new hitting coordinator is let's make

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these pictures work, let's stay inside the strike zone. And

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it's it's really paid off. I mean, and it's across

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the board, you know. I think one guy at the

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forefront of it is the guy who was probably their

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biggest free swingers, jose L TV. I mean, his his

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chase rate last year was fifty percent and right as

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of right now, it's like thirty four percent. That was

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a swing rate. Sorry, his chase rate is down like

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sixteen percent. And even swinging in the zone. He was

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swinging in the zone last year it's like sixty three

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percent and now it's less than fifty percent. He's got

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more walks than strikeouts. And this is a guy who

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usually strikes out twice as many times as he walks.

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So up and down the lineup, they're really making the

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pictures come in the zone. They're getting the starters out

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of the game. To me, that's the biggest thing. And

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then I think, I like what I see from the bullpen.

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They've been able to deploy these long relievers a couple

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of times to chew up two or three in his

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blue ball. Looks really good. They got to get the

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closing situation ironed out. But a brain you looked, you know,

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quite a bit better yesterday. So you know a lot

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of things that if you're the Astros, you think this

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is positive and we can sustain this.

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Speaker 1: What did you know about the hitting coaches coming in?

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And look, Astro fan base can be a finicky bunch.

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They're touting them highly now, but if they go on

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a streak where they only score three runs over a

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five game stretch, they'll be calling for their job. So

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what did you know about them going in? And I

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know there is a there was co hitting coaches last year.

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There is definitely a hierarchy chart this timmer around.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think on Friday the Astros fans wanted everybody

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fired again. I think I were talking about there the

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fire spot of guys were back, and I haven't heard

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from them now, but they're probably having a rough time.

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But yeah, I mean they thought they obviously needed some

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different voices in the room, and they brought in Victor Rodriguez,

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who has done this for a very long time, has

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worked with some super elite players, some some big time hitters,

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and they brought in Anthony and I Posty, who've been

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with the Tigers, and yeah, they wanted they wanted a hierarchy.

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So Rodriguez is the hitting coach. I post he's the

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assistant guy. And even they even promoted uh, you know,

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one of their I guess hitting gurus, the guy who

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knows more about hitting biomechanics than anybody in the game

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probably And Dan Hennigan, he's their offensive coordinator so to speak,

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you know Korea. Talking with Korea during spring training, he says,

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gotten a lot of great information from him, So it

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was time that they needed some new new leadership. I

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think in in their their hitting room and uh, and

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I think those guys have been instrumental in trying to

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get them to change their approach as a whole, as

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a team, and so far it's working out.

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Speaker 1: A couple more minutes here with Brian McTaggart on Sports

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Talk seven ninety. Uh, Christian Vasquez goes deep yesterday, which

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then immediately sent Astro Twitter into he needs to play

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more often. Yan are Diez, how would you describe his

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spring and how would you you know, we don't ask

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you to describe the numbers so far it's not been

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good at least behind the plate and and behind the

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dish at catching. So a thought or two about the

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long term in your mind future for Yarnier Diez not

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necessarily Christian Vasquez pushing for more playing time, but how

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much are we gonna spend looking at Walter Onick's development

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this year at the Monor league level.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the advants haven't been good from from Diaz.

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The you know, the approach hasn't been great. He swung

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and mist at three balls outside the zone the other day.

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He's not making hard contact, so they have to be

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concerned about that. I mean the spring he looked okay,

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not great at the play. Defensively, I think he's making stripes.

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The Colors gushed on him the other day about, you know,

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how well he called the pitches and and so forth.

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I know that Hunter Brown really trust him as well.

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But he's gonna have to hit a little bit. And

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I think if they if you put Christian Vasquez as

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a starting catcher, then uh, he's gonna be Christian best

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guys that we expected and hit two hundred and you know,

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not to take anything away from him, but he's a

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backup catcher at this point in his career. Long term,

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Yannick is the guy. He had a tremendous spring for them. Defensively,

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I think he's a major league ready starting catcher. He

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made some strides offensively in the grape Fruit League. So

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he's starting out at Double A, which he hasn't even

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played in Double A yet. But if he can hit,

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I think Dana will move in pretty quickly. I think

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we could see him in Triple A, and I think

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we'll come to camp next year he has a good

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season at the plate. I think he could come to

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camp next year battling for definitely a spot on the roster,

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but maybe even a starting spot unless he has really

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gets it turned around at the plate.

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Speaker 1: Far let your run. Let's get a thought or two

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about when we should see Spencer arrogaty call up. Is

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there any time frame, because I know there's a stretch

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now of two weeks without a day off, so the

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presumption is a six man rotation will come into play

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at least for the short term. When do you expect

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that decision be made?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it'll probably be another week April. I

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think they have an off day April tenth, so maybe

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before they hit before they hit Seattle. I think they'll

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have to start that's when when this when they go

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out like this thirteen game stretch. So I think we're

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another week away from from getting uh the six man rotation.

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So Eric Getty's gonna have another one, one or two

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starts down there. But it's nice that they have him.

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They have Jason, Alexander and Triple Triple A Cold and Gordon.

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You know, they have some guys that they would feel

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comfortable about coming up and adding to this rotation if

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they have to.

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Speaker 1: Tag safe travels to Sacramento. Will talk gain next Thursday.

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Thanks for the visitors always, all right, thanks guys,