Astros Crawfish Boil: December 4, 2022

Dec 5, 2022 - 2:00 PM

The 30 major league owners are all expected to be represented at MLB’s Winter Meetings at the San Diego Marquis, which started today with an announcement that of the eight players considered for inclusion for induction into the Hall of Fame, only Fred McGriff was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee. Albert Belle, Dale Murphy, Don Mattingly, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Curt Schilling were not. Next year, the same era will be considered, instead concentrated on the non-player side of baseball.

Houston Astros News

Jeff Bagwell desperately trying to set Astros back is good for Yankees (yanksgoyard.com)

The Astros’ specter lingers over this generation of Yankees (pinstripealley.com)

Watch: Houston Astros star Jeremy Peña fires up crowd before Texans-Browns (chron.com)

Latest evidence indicates Houston Astros owner isn’t playing games (houston.sportsmap.com)

Astros Interested In Andrew Benintendi (mlbtraderumors.com)

MLB News

Fred McGriff elected to Hall of Fame by contemporary era committee (ESPN.com)

MLB rumors: Xander Bogaerts Cubs’ ‘top priority’ (nbcsports.com)

Dodgers Rumors: MLB Insider Believes Aaron Judge Market Is Not For The Dodgers (si.com)

Angels Rumors: MLB Insider Predicts LA Signs All-Star Veteran Shortstop (si.com)

Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds makes rare MLB trade request as All-Star asks out of Pittsburgh (cbssports.com)

Yankees Potential Free Agent Target: Trey Mancini (pinstripealley.com)

MLB rumors: Yankees interested in Bryan Reynolds; Marlins not open to Sandy Alcantara trade (cbssports.com)

Oops! All Astros: Carlos Mateo

Carlos Mateo is a six-foot-one, 164 lb. right-handed pitcher from Barahona, DR. Born on December 16, 2003, he signed his first professional deal with Houston on March 28, 2022. He reported to his first assignment on June 3, with the rookie-level DSL Astros Orange squad.

Mateo pitched in 10 contests for the Orange, starting and relieving five times each. Over his first three appearances, he threw 13 innings of scoreless baseball, striking out 15, walking five, and allowing nine hits for a very Astros-like 1.077 WHIP. That includes his June 23 performance, when he earned his first career win by pitching the second through sixth innings of a 3-1 win over the DSL KC Glass, striking out seven and allowing three hits and no runs.

Mateo accrued a total of 114 batters faced over 27 ¹⁄₃ innings, holding them to a .232/.333/.323 slashline. He finished with a 1.317 WHIP and 10.9 K/9, striking out 33 and walking 13. He was 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA.

We haven’t really seen enough of Mateo to make any kind of long-range projections, but he showed at least enough to get the opportunity to show a little more. Look for him back with the DSL (or maybe with the FCL) to begin next season.