Wide Receivers Keke Coutee and Bruce Ellington will be competing, but that is not the biggest battle. Photo by Edward Clarke
The time has come for training camp to end and the preseason games to begin. All the practicing and studying will be used in a game situation; albeit against a simplified game plan. These games have no meaning other than player evaluation for coaches, but fringe players can earn a roster spot by giving it all they have and making a play when the opportunity arises.
With all that said, there are still a few positions where stiff competition is going to have a big impact on the team in the regular season. If you’re going to watch these preseason games, then the best way to enjoy them is to pay attention to how well the following players perform when the lights are on. It could go a long way toward helping the Texans stay competitive for the entire season.
1. Back-up running back
We all know Lamar Miller is going to be the starter, but with D’Onta Foreman’s return still a mystery the next man up is going to be important when the season begins. The obvious expectation is that Bill O’Brien will just use Alfred Blue because of his experience with the offense. But his four years haven’t really made him a shoo-in. Tyler Ervin is coming off an injury and Troymaine Pope didn’t light the world on fire in last year’s rookie season. That leaves the door wide open for this year’s rookies Lavon Coleman and Terry Swanson.
It’s those two that I think will have the best chance to win the back-up spot. Everyone else has game tape that isn’t very good. I will be fun to watch how they do, despite the likelihood they will be facing third and fourth string defenses. If they can stick to the fundamentals and break some plays open, they can push the veterans out the door.
2. Offensive tackle
A bone of contention last year, the offensive line is still not a reliable group heading into the preseason. Help was given to the interior, but it will be up to some lesser talents to protect Deshaun Watson on the edge. The expectation is for the left tackle position to be occupied by second-year pro Julie’n Davenport. At 6’7” 320, he’s a big athletic body who can occupy a lot of space. Free agent acquisition Seantrel Henderson will be competing on the right side against Kendall Lamm, with a chance for either one to seal the deal.
I can’t fully believe that Davenport is the clear choice at left tackle. If he struggles against a straight pass rush during the preseason there might be an opening for Henderson to slide to the left side while Davenport moves to the right. There’s also the possibility that a veteran gets cut from another team and shakes the whole thing up by signing in Houston.
3. Cornerback
This was another position in serious need of an overhaul in the offseason. The only significant addition was Aaron Colvin, a free agent signing from Jacksonville. He joins a position group led by aging veteran Jonathan Joseph and first round disappointment Kevin Johnson. The competition between these three guys for playing time is going to be intense. Joseph has lost a step, Johnson is often injured or getting beat, and Colvin has spent his career playing in the slot. The addition of safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Justin Reid will help the secondary overall, but the starting cornerback combination is going to define the pass defense when the season starts. Remember; they face Tom Brady, Odell Beckham Jr. and Andrew Luck early in the season. I would also be on the lookout for a veteran player on the market to join the team.
While these are the three biggest battles I will be watching, it will also be interesting to see what happens between Keke Coutee and Bruce Ellington for the No. 3 receiver. The other one to look out for is whether one of the two drafted tight ends, Jordan Akins or Jordan Thomas, earn some serious playing time over Ryan Griffin or Stephen Anderson.
Either way, there’s reason enough to watch Thursday night as Houston travels to Kansas City for the first preseason game and your first chance to see the players in action.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.