From Yordan Álvarez to Dusty Baker, here are the Houston Astros you can cheer
By Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer
Some of the Astros are fun.
Most of them, actually.
Now, before you close this browser in a fit of trash-can-fueled rage, hear me out. The 2017 Houston Astros cheated and most likely won a World Series as a result. The organization then skated by with a few sacrifices — GM Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch — thrown to the wolves. None of the players from that team were reprimanded, and the 2017 world championship banner hangs at Minute Maid Park and will forever.
What’s worse, the 2017 Houston Can Bangers broke a trust between fan and competition. Much like in the years after steroids threw baseball into turmoil, as every superb performance was clouded with suspicion, the Astros and their cheating created an atmosphere of skepticism among fans. They were most likely not the only team up to malfeasance, but that does not make them innocent. The Houston Astros do not have the benefit of the doubt, nor have they earned it.
And now, with the team a win away from another World Series appearance, the baseball world must yet again watch the despised Astros compete for a championship. While it would be understandable to boo at your TV, I’m going to urge you to focus on the joyful side. No need to forgive or forget, but maybe rethink.
Only four players on Houston's ALCS roster were around in 2017, when the trash cans were in play: Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, José Altuve and Yuli Gurriel. Granted, these four — the entire infield, as it is — are the core of the team, were so in 2017 and thus will always have a cloud of doubt and dislike following them around.
But what about the other 22 guys on the roster? Twenty-two unfortunate souls who ended up in the wrong laundry and spent all season touring America to a hailstorm of boos. Twenty-two players who spent 2017 playing in the minor leagues or on another MLB team or in another country.
There are some very likable, redeemable, fun players in that bunch. And while it might be difficult to separate these Unlucky 22 from the quartet of 2017 holdovers, it’s worth your time as a baseball fan to at least try.
Let’s run through some of the — gulp — likable Astros.
The hulking, 6-foot-5, 230-pound Cuban DH known as Air Yordan is a slugger’s slugger. He is a Judge/Stanton/Gallo-sized human being with just as much raw power as any of those massive Yankees. Since his debut in 2019, Álvarez has the fifth-highest OPS in baseball (.948) behind only those of Mike Trout, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Bryce Harper. That’s absurd!
After a Rookie of the Year campaign in 2019, Álvarez missed most of 2020 because of injuries, but came back this year and hardly missed a beat. We don’t see him as often as the other Astros because he usually DHs, but Álvarez has indisputably been Houston’s best hitter the past few seasons.
Let the joy of this flick-of-the-wrist oppo tater into your heart.
What he was up to in 2017: 12 home runs and a .859 OPS for Houston’s High-A Buies Creek and Double-A Corpus Christi affiliates
The diminutive, wide-eyed righty is the active MLB leader in starts and innings. Over an 18-year career, the 38-year-old has picked up six All-Star appearances, two ERA titles and a Cy Young award. He’s 24th all-time in postseason innings pitched and first in that category among pitchers who’ve never won a ring. Think about that: With Clayton Kershaw winning his first title last year, no pitcher in MLB history has chucked more in the postseason without winning a championship.
Unfortunately, Greinke is a much-diminished version of his best self right now, due to a tough bout of COVID-19 late in the year that didn’t allow him time to ramp his arm back up before the postseason. He got the start in Game 4 and struggled through 1 1/3 innings, and it doesn’t seem like he’ll play a significant role moving forward.
But as a character, Greinke is a delight. He’s an honest, straight-talking oddball who has earned respect across the league and will probably enter the Hall of Fame one day. He came so close to a ring in 2019, and if Houston does win it all this year, he’s a guy you can be happy for without feeling bad.
What he was up to in 2017: 3.20 ERA in 202 innings for the wild-card-winning Arizona Diamondbacks
What a fun guy to watch. In Game 5, Valdez delivered the outing of this year’s postseason, with a sparkling, eight-inning performance in which he allowed one run on three hits. He was in control from start to finish, using his phenomenal sinker/curveball mix to keep Boston hitters off-balance.
His arsenal is incredibly unique and earned him the highest ground-ball rate in the bigs this season. Valdez's long, sweepy, rainbow curveball is aesthetically wonderful, while the heavy sinker breaks more lumber than a Karate black belt. Also, no pitcher in the league smiles more than Valdez.
What he was up to in 2017: 4.16 ERA in 110 innings for Houston’s High-A Buies Creek and Double-A Corpus Christi affiliates
A 21st-round pick out of Division-II Millersville University in 2017, McCormick was still a college student when Houston was up to no good. He has since climbed the organizational ladder one rung at a time and spent this season splitting time with José Sirí and Jake Meyers in center field at Minute Maid.
McCormick is quite the unlikely big-leaguer. He’s one of just four 631st overall picks to ever reach the bigs, and he already has the most games played among that crop, even though he just debuted in April.
He’s also a righty-bat, lefty-throw guy, which is exceedingly rare nowadays. McCormick is one of just two "backward" guys to play in at least 100 games this season (Guillermo Heredia was the other), and he's already third among active "backward" guys in home runs (behind Heredia and … Madison Bumgarner).
What he was up to in 2017: Hitting .384/.437/.605 for the Millersville University Marauders
José Sirí
First things first, it’s pronounced see-REE, so you can toss all your iPhone jokes into the bin. Sirí spent eight years grinding in the Reds system, putting up impressive power numbers for a center fielder while also posting red-flag-meme levels of strikeouts. The Astros picked him up this past offseason, and he got the call-up after Houston dealt Myles Straw to Cleveland.
Sirí is a Dominican Winter League icon and over the past five years has solidified himself as one of the circuit’s most entertaining figures. Whenever he homers there, he salsa dances or does a "make it rain" celebration when he crosses home. He has brought that chest-pumping, party energy to the Astros, and you can see him out of the dugout gesturing wildly whenever Houston scores.
What he was up to in 2017: Hitting .293/.341/.530 for the Low-A Dayton Dragons with a 39-game hitting streak, a Midwest League all-time record
Raley has perhaps the best trash-can-banging alibi of any current Astro, as the dude wasn’t even in the country in 2017. After two bad stints with the Cubs in 2012 and 2013, Raley made his way to the KBO at the beginning of 2015 and became one of the league’s most reliable pitchers, starting at least 30 games in five consecutive seasons before returning to the U.S. with Houston before 2020. It’s always cool when guys reinvent themselves overseas — shout out to Darin Ruf and Eric Thames — and come back to MLB and compete.
What he was up to in 2017: Had a 4.18 ERA in 187.1 innings for the Lotte Giants of the KBO
Dusty Baker
Perhaps the best and most rational reason to cheer for the Astros, Baker is a future Hall of Fame manager with the 11th-most wins in baseball history, but he is still chasing his first ring as a skipper. Dusty is the true definition of a baseball lifer. He played with Hank Aaron, managed Barry Bonds and claims to have invented the high-five (look it up). He has led playoff teams in San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati, D.C. and now Houston, but with the skipper now 72 years old, this season might be Baker's best shot to finally, finally, finally bring home a title.
What he was up to in 2017: Managing the 97-win Washington Nationals
Jake Mintz is the louder half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball analyst for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan living in New York City, and thus, he leads a lonely existence most Octobers. If he’s not watching baseball, he’s almost certainly riding his bike. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Mintz.