On the eve of every game, zone maps, videos, spray charts and usage patterns are sent to a group chat with all 13 position players on the Houston Astros roster. Most of the material is devoted to the next day\u2019s starting pitcher, equal parts a plan of attack and prospectus on his probabilities or preferences. For a team trying to reestablish its offensive identity, this is something new.<\/p>\n
Putting the data points into practice begins the next day when the team gathers at the ballpark. If it\u2019s the first day of a series, all of Houston\u2019s hitters gather for an advance meeting run by first-year hitting coach Victor Rodr\u00edguez. Rodr\u00edguez said his preference is to meet every ensuing day \u2014 just as he\u2019s done during every stop of his 13-year coaching career \u2014 but the players are dictating the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re athletes because they don\u2019t like meetings,\u201d said Anthony Iapoce, one of Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s assistants who is averse to even saying the word meeting<\/em>. Mitch Moreland called them rallies<\/em> during Iapoce\u2019s first year on a major-league coaching staff, so he\u2019s stuck with that slang.<\/p>\n \u201cWho really likes getting together all the time,\u201d Iapoce asked. \u201cBaseball is such an individualized sport. You don\u2019t want to disrupt their day, especially veteran guys. They have their whole day planned from the night before until they get to the field until they\u2019re ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n For some, that routine includes sitting at their locker, staring at an iPad and studying the slew of information still sitting in the group chat. Afterward, they\u2019ll trickle into the batting cages and debrief with Rodr\u00edguez, Iapoce or Dan Hennigan, the offensive coordinator compiling all of the data this team is devouring.<\/p>\n \u201cThe approach that\u2019s being taken is, \u2018Look, we\u2019re giving this information to everybody,\u2019\u201d center fielder Jake Meyers said. \u201cFigure out what information you need to be successful. They don\u2019t care however much that is \u2014 they\u2019re giving it to you and it\u2019s your job to figure out the best place you can be when you step into the box.\u201d<\/p>\n The early returns are remarkable \u2014 and keeping the Astros afloat amid an avalanche of injuries. They have averaged 5.27 runs across the season\u2019s first 26 games, a stretch in which Houston has the American League\u2019s highest OPS, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and batting average.<\/p>\n Only three teams entered Friday with more runs scored than the 137 Houston has totaled. Only two teams have a higher slugging percentage than the Astros, who spent the winter seeking a revival of an offense that had grown stale.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t come here to reinvent the wheel or try to do something different,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said. \u201cWe knew who they were, we knew their careers and how much success they had. It was more of a reminder of, \u2018This is what you do and this is what you have done.\u2019 That, I think, has been the more important part.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez, Iapoce and Hennigan are part of what first baseman Christian Walker called \u201ca three-headed monster.\u201d They are here after Houston parted ways with longtime hitting coaches Alex Cintr\u00f3n and Troy Snitker, two men still revered within corners of Houston\u2019s clubhouse. That makes this conversation a complicated one.<\/p>\n Such early offensive success breeds an outside explanation that Cintr\u00f3n and Snitker were somehow preventing the lineup from reaching its full potential. Players scoff at such a notion, but still must acknowledge the about-face from their entire lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cIn previous years, we\u2019ve always put in the work and we\u2019ve always had great plans going into games,\u201d shortstop Jeremy Pe\u00f1a said. \u201cBut this year, it feels like the energy is different with the team. I feel like we have a certain kind of swagger to us as an offense and as a team. We\u2019re really buying into it.\u201d<\/p>\n Injuries forced Pe\u00f1a to miss significant time in the second half of last season. Same for All-Star third baseman Isaac Paredes. Yordan Alvarez appeared in 48 games while dealing with a sprained ankle and a hand fracture that the organization misdiagnosed. It is impossible to overlook that attrition when comparing the two offenses.<\/p>\n Alvarez has already hit 11 home runs in his first 118 plate appearances. His 1.245 OPS and 245 OPS+ are the best in baseball. Having and keeping him at full efficacy means more than overhauling any coaching staff ever could. Ditto for Walker, who underwhelmed last season, slashing .264\/.358\/.505 across his first 106 plate appearances of this one.<\/p>\n Still, team officials believed new voices would be a benefit. That both manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown are in the final year of their contracts can\u2019t be overstated, either. Both are operating with obvious urgency to correct what failed the club last season. Scoring 4.23 runs per game, seeing the third-fewest pitches per plate appearance in baseball and swinging at an almost 50 percent clip all contributed to that.<\/p>\n Returning all nine everyday position players from last year\u2019s lineup prompted wonder what \u2014 if anything \u2014 would change.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people have that backwards about veteran players,\u201d Iapoce said. \u201cVeteran players are in the league because they want to be coached and want to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n Since last season, the Astros have increased their walk rate by 4.3 percent, lowered their swing rate by 3.4 percent and are seeing 3.92 pitches per plate appearance. They saw 3.76 last season. The arrival of ABS has inflated walk rates and shrunk strike zones across the sport, but Houston is still deploying the distinct approach that it abandoned for most of last season.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t necessarily say the message is different, I would just say that, as a team, we\u2019re really buying into the plan,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. \u201cWe\u2019re passing the baton to the next guy. It feels like we trust every single person in the lineup. You don\u2019t need to be a hero. Get on base, pass the at-bat to the next guy and good things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s been Houston\u2019s supposed mantra since Pe\u00f1a arrived in the major leagues in 2022. It is impossible to know how much of its resurgence can be credited to new coaching or new methods \u2014 especially when it hasn\u2019t been emphasized by the new staff.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think at any point we\u2019ve said, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s avoid chase,\u2019\u201d Hennigan said.<\/p>\n Added Rodr\u00edguez: \u201cThe walks, seeing pitches is the result of a good approach. We don\u2019t preach: \u2018Hey, take pitches, take walks.\u2019 No. All the work we do is about hitting.\u201d<\/p>\n Cintr\u00f3n and Snitker shared hitting coach responsibilities beginning in 2020. After their dismissal, team officials sought a more defined hierarchy within its offensive infrastructure. Rodr\u00edguez is the team\u2019s head hitting coach and Iapoce is his assistant.<\/p>\n Hennigan is something of a hybrid. He is a 35-year-old biomechanics guru whom at least one other team courted this winter for a major-league coaching job. The Astros ponied up to keep Hennigan, put him in charge of game planning and gave him two titles: offensive coordinator and director of hitting. He is the man who sends the pregame data inside Houston\u2019s group chat.<\/p>\n \u201cSimilar info (to last season), just different ways of wording it,\u201d Walker said. \u201cSlightly different visuals, but it\u2019s the same info.<\/p>\n \u201cThe info is good. It\u2019s efficient. We\u2019re not getting overloaded. We talked a lot during spring (training) about \u2018What do you need to see before a game?\u2019 I think what we\u2019re getting is just a blend of all this information.\u201d<\/p>\n In November, Hennigan intimated he would not be in uniform or in the dugout during major-league games. Input from both Espada and players has altered that plan. Hennigan has traveled on the team\u2019s first two road trips and been inside the dugout during games \u201cconstantly talking\u201d with both Rodr\u00edguez and Iapoce.<\/p>\n On most nights, Rodr\u00edguez can be seen straddling the top step of the dugout studying an iPad. He has \u201cthe final say\u201d on everything, Hennigan said, and can \u201cfigure out that perfect, quick little simplification of something.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my conversations with him have been him reminding me how good I am, which is great to hear as a hitter sometimes,\u201d Walker said. \u201cThis game feels really hard at times and for a guy to just be like, \u2018Man, I watched you for six years across the field in the other dugout, just do this and this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Somewhere behind Rodr\u00edguez is Iapoce, a man whose nickname \u201cCoach Poce\u201d already adorns a set of navy blue T-shirts seen throughout the Astros clubhouse. Iapoce is in charge of in-game morale and preparing hitters for possible matchups against relievers.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve got over 50 years of experience and this is my first year in the big leagues,\u201d Hennigan said. \u201cFor them to lack any ego whatsoever and allow me to be running my mouth as much as I do, it\u2019s just a really cool environment.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019ve done so since spring training, when Espada allowed all three coaches to conduct listening sessions and meetings before workouts. From those conversations, Hennigan started to select all the data he would send to Houston\u2019s group chat before a game. Advance scouting coordinator Ricardo Lizarraga is a key contributor, too.<\/p>\n \u201cI had it for the first time last year in Toronto and to have that here and have somebody like Dan who is so keyed in on that stuff, it\u2019s been awesome,\u201d outfielder Joey Loperfido said. \u201cI think it\u2019s the way the game is going. With the way guys are throwing the ball these days and the way pitchers and getting better and better, you as a hitter have to be more informed and that much more diligent.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Yordan Alvarez\u2019s league-leading 1.245 OPS has been a bright spot during Houston\u2019s rough start to the season. (Troy Taormina \/ Imagn Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Not all of Houston\u2019s hitters need or desire all of this information. \u201cAlvarez,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez asked rhetorically, \u201cyou think he\u2019s going to look at that?\u201d Pe\u00f1a calls himself a \u201ctraditional type\u201d who prefers \u201csimple stuff\u201d because \u201cgoing off the percentages is a dangerous game.\u201d<\/p>\n Others study every piece of data provided. There is no one method to prepare for a major-league game, but the hope is that this will cover every conceivable way.<\/p>\n \u201cPick what you want,\u201d right fielder Cam Smith said, \u201cbut we\u2019ve got everything we need.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith first scans a pitcher\u2019s usage pattern with runners in scoring position. He likes watching some of the videos sent inside the group chat to get a better gauge of what type of velocity he will face. Loperfido looks at both pitch shapes and a pitcher\u2019s release height before scanning heat maps to find out where the majority of these offerings will land.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just trying to come up with a window that I can kind of set my sights on to know I can cover a few pitches, to put myself in a good spot to be a swing in the zone,\u201d Loperfido said.<\/p>\n Walker will study damage heat maps and some notes on pitch shapes, but acknowledged he is someone who can overload himself with too much information.<\/p>\n \u201cSome guys want simple, just words. Some guys like visual cues of like, \u2018Hey, this is where this pitch needs to start,\u2019 and then you just layer it over some video,\u201d Walker said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to narrow it down and boil to one thing, but at the very least, we\u2019re all speaking the same language.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re sharing the info during the game, which is helpful, and I think we trust the guys in charge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSame position players, better production<\/h2>\n
How much information is too much?<\/h2>\n
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