A couple of key players are back while a few are out with injury
4 observations from Texans practice Aug. 19
Aug 19, 2019, 2:01 pm
Bill O'Brien and DeAndre Hopkins
If you missed the observations from the Texans preseason game two you can find them right here
Nick Martin, Reader return
The Texans welcomed back starting center Nick Martin and defensive lineman D.J. Reader to practice. Reader was a terror, as he has been this preseason. It was just shells, no pads today, but Reader flashed right through the offensive line to disrupt the play.
Martin's return moved Zach Fulton back to guard. It will be interesting to see if Martin gets game action against the Cowboys. He could probably use the reps to catch up.
Tytus Howard and Matt Kalil are down, for now
O’Brien asked about Roderick Johnson: Lightyears of improvement from where he used to be. Good performance the other night. Wants to see him do it again.
— Cody Stoots (@Cody_Stoots) August 19, 2019
There was no work Monday from Tytus Howard and Matt Kalil.
Howard has a broken finger and will likely miss the rest of the preseason if I was guessing. Bill O'Brien said he wouldn't expect Howard to practice this week but he did expect him to be ready for the game week one against the Saints.
Kalil has worked sparingly recently. He practiced last Sunday and was off Monday. The team was off Tuesday and then Wednesday he worked against the Lions and said he was healthy. He hasn't practiced since and didn't play in the game against Detroit. O'Brien said he thinks the veteran could practice this week.
Roderick Johnson has been getting more snaps in place of Kalil and has held up nicely in his opportunities. Deshaun Watson said after the preseason game he is comfortable with Johnson at left tackle. Zach Fulton is the guy in place of Howard at guard. He has the ability to play all three inside slots and at this point he has played all three inside spots or at least practiced there.
The best Texans tight end: Jordan Akins
Jordan Akins started camp under the radar. Jordan Thomas had flashed the first few days. Kahale Warring was an exciting draft pick. Darren Fells was the blocking expert. Since then Thomas got hurt, Warring has barely been on the field, and Fells is still better at blocking than catching the ball.
Akins has gotten better and better each week. His hands have had a hiccup here or there but Monday he made an amazing over the shoulder catch in 7-on-7 drills. He also can get behind the defense with ease as he beat his man and nearly hauled in a long Deshaun Watson pass for a score before a defensive back came over and broke up the play.
Thomas has been disappointing since his return to the field. Monday he had a drop on an easy play. Bill O'Brien mentioned after the second preseason game Thomas needed to get better at his route running. He started off hot but the injury and subsequent struggle to get back on track has derailed him. Warring isn't even practicing right now.
The roster competitions for offense skill position players
These are currently the competitions as I see them for the skill position players.
Potentially two wideout spots if they're keeping six wide receivers. One spot if they're keeping five.
Tyron Johnson - Vyncint Smith - Steven Mitchell
Tyron Johnson will be on someone else's 53-man roster if he gets cut is my assumption. So would Smith. Mitchell is a long way from supplanting either slot wideout but if Keke Coutee's injury lingers he could make the team.
Potentially two running back spots if they are keeping four. One spot if they are keeping three.
Karan Higdon - Taiwan Jones - Demarea Crockett - Buddy Howell
I don't have a good read on this position. They love special teams usefulness and all these guys provide that to some extent in various ways. It will be interesting to see if Howell's impressive finish to the Lions game can get him in the mix more.
One tight end spot with the assumption Kahale Warring heads to the injured reserve.
Darren Fells - Jerell Adams
Adams is good enough to be on someone's 53-man roster just can't see him cracking the Texans roster unless they keep four and IR Warring. With Warring, he's so far behind and has played so little football in his life a "redshirt" year might do him well.
Bonus: Joseph's brain
Johnathan Joseph is always talking on the sidelines. It feels like everyone sits under his learning tree. From Bradley Roby to linebacker Dylan Cole is always encouraging or talking about a rep with the defenders.
Even when Joseph wins a rep against an offensive player he shows great sportsmanship in victory.
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Astros lose tight one despite brilliant outing from Hunter Brown
May 15, 2025, 10:29 pm
It’s a fun series between the Astros and Rangers through the weekend in Arlington, but by no means is it a critical series. It would be nice for the Astros to not lose three out of the four games (or obviously all four) to their upstate rivals. The Astros have lost their last five road series, dropping two out of three games in each of them. As with the Astros, pitching has been the strength of the team for the Rangers thus far. After the humdinger Hunter Brown-Jacob deGrom mound matchup Thursday night, the Rangers give the ball Friday to Nathan Eovaldi with his earned run average at 1.78, then Saturday it’s Tyler Mahle with his even more sparkling 1.47 ERA. Heading into Thursday play, the Mariners having lost five of their last six games meant just a game and a half separate first from fourth place in the American League West. The Astros, Rangers, and Athletics are all right there. Only the Angels are inconsequential.
Star power!
There is an asterisk to attach but Jeremy Pena is making a real charge at becoming a first-time All-Star game selection. Among American League shortstops, the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. is clearly the best. The clear number two in the pecking order coming into this season was the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, who is on fire after a slow start that began with him missing seven games on the injured list. Athletics’ rookie Jacob Wilson goes into the weekend batting .350 and amazingly has struck out just nine times in 164 at bats. Rangers’ stud Corey Seager being on the injured list with a balky hamstring for the second time this season helps the Astros this weekend and likely frees up an All-Star spot.
Now to that aforementioned asterisk. Pena has been sensational so far, indisputably the Astros’ best everyday player. We just need to see more staying power of performance before fully slotting Pena in the top tier of shortstops. Pena’s four-hit game Wednesday night hiked his batting average to .315, his OPS to .840. Well, last year Pena put head to pillow the night of May 15 with his batting average at .333, his OPS at .830. The rest of the season Pena hit .240 with a meager .653 OPS. That Pena drew a paltry 18 walks over his last 114 games. 2025 Pena has showed markedly better plate discipline. He’ll never be a high walks-drawn guy but incremental improvement matters, and can bear fruit in other ways.
Fruitless continues to describe an awfully high percentage of Christian Walker’s plate appearances. 2023 Jose Abreu was better (2024 Abreu was not). Plenty of season still remains for a turnaround, but more than a quarter of the season is gone and it’s not as if Walker is trending in the right direction. In three games against the Royals he went zero for 12 with seven strikeouts. With his final whiff, Walker reached the 50 strikeout “milestone” for the season in his 154th at bat. Feeble and lousy are fair characterizations of a .208 batting average and .625 OPS, magnified for someone batting clean-up most nights. Starting play Thursday 13 big leaguers actually had struck out more than Walker so far this season, among them only the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds carries a lower OPS. Walker has been even worse with runners in scoring position, batting just .171, with a sub-abysmal 20 strikeouts in 41 at bats.
Using Baseball-Reference's Wins Above Replacement statistic, the Astros’ three worst non-pitchers this season are Walker, Yordan Alvarez, and Jose Altuve. Those are the three highest paid players on the team. Altuve’s extended funk has him hitting .202 over his last 27 games with a .538 OPS. Altuve was dropped to second in the batting order basically at his request. It has not sparked him. If Altuve doesn’t pick it up, manager Joe Espada will have to consider dropping Altuve several more spots down the lineup. Alvarez is at 11 games and counting missed with a muscle strain in his right hand. He will not be approaching the career-high 147 games played last season.
Relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a revelation last season. Before joining the Astros at age 31 Scott had a big-league ERA of 9.00 in 46 innings scattered over three seasons. So it was pretty much out of nowhere that the only South African pitcher in MLB history posted a scintillating 1.36 ERA into early August before fading and winding up with a still stellar 2.23 mark. The clock struck midnight on his Cinderella story this year though, and with the Astros needing to open a roster spot this week, Scott was designated for assignment.
Book it!
Longtime Astros’ broadcasting stalwart Bill Brown has authored several books. His latest is Wartime Athletes, which tells the stories of athletes across a number of sports who served in the U.S. military during various wars. If you know anything about Bill Brown, you know each story was meticulously researched and makes for an interesting read. I’m no Oprah when it comes to the power of suggestion for reading material, but Wartime Athletes is worth your time and/or is a worthy gift for someone else.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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