SPRINGER BREWER
Astros superstar George Springer brews World Series beer for Houstonians
Oct 14, 2019, 11:22 am
Photo courtesy of Budweiser
This article originally appeared on CultureMap.
When it comes to athletes chasing championships, the standard advice is not to show too much emotion. Act like you've been there before. Be in the moment.
Definitely don't do anything as audacious as plan for a celebration. Baseball players are notoriously superstitious; participating in an activity that anticipates victory could be seen as jinxing a team.
Either nobody told George Springer those unwritten rules or he doesn't care about them. The Astros all-star right fielder has a special brew in the works if the Astros win another title.
Springer served as an "honorary brew master" at Anheuser-Busch's Houston brewery. Working with AB brew master Rich Cooper, Springer helped create a special batch of Budweiser Championship Reserve. If (when?) the Astros win the World Series, kegs of the beer will be tapped both in the Astros' locker room and at about 20 bars across the city.
Just to be clear, "Championship Reserve" uses the same recipe as regular Budweiser, but the company confirms the beer will come from the batch the World Series MVP oversaw when he visited the brewery. If nothing else, the thrill of victory should make it taste a little better.
Continue on CultureMap to find out if local breweries will get involved next year.
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The Houston Astros had a very successful season in 2023 which led them back to the ALCS for the seventh-straight season, but despite another deep playoff run, their pitching did regress from the prior year.
While many would point to their historic bullpen in 2022 and say they had nowhere to go but down, that doesn't paint the full picture. It was the starting rotation that really fell off in 2023. Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Hunter Brown, and Jose Urquidy all saw a spike in their ERAs from the previous season.
According to a recent report from The Athletic's Chandler Rome, we might have an explanation for Jose Urquidy's down year.
The Astros and Urquidy believe he was tipping his pitches. Which would explain why the slugging percentage against his fastball jumped from .482 in 2022 to .632 in 2023.
José Urquidy said he discovered this offseason that he was tipping some of his pitches by how he moved/squeezed his glove in his delivery. He worked this winter to solve that in addition to strengthening his lat/shoulder area where he got hurt last season.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 27, 2024
When hitters know a pitcher is tipping, they often start hunting fastballs. Also, his strikeout percentage went down last year and his walks went way up. He had 2 more walks per nine innings in 2023 than he had in 2021.
Part of that could be him aiming for corners and refusing to give in to hitters because his fastball wasn't performing up to expectations.
His WHIP in 2023 really jumped off the page as well. He finished with a WHIP over 1.4. While his career WHIP is 1.143. That's a huge difference.
Back to the big picture
Until last season, Urquidy never finished with an ERA over 3.95. He recorded a 5.29 ERA last year. So when we factor in his shoulder injury that cost him three months of the season, and the fact he was tipping pitches, we believe he's in store for a bounce-back season.
And the Astros are going to need him, especially with Justin Verlander and JP France possibly not being available for the start of the season.
What will the rotation look like early on?
The Astros haven't ruled Verlander out yet, so he could be ready to go. But if not, and we base this off what we saw last season. The rotation will likely include Valdez, Javier, Brown, Urquidy, Ronel Blanco, and Brandon Bielak.
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