An Interview with What the Heck

Since we're about to embark on a new season, I thought an interview for the benefit of new WTHB readers might be in order.  I managed to get this exclusive interview with the elusive What the Heck herself.  (Take that Stephen Goff!)

Q:  Why did you decide to start a blog centered around the worst team in baseball in 2011?  Are you a masochist?

A:  Not at all.  I actually started WTHB out of self-defense because the Astros were so bad in 2011.  I wanted to know that there was help on the way.  And as great as all of the Astros blogs are, none of them really gave me everything that I was looking for, both the big picture and the intricate details of the Astros minor league system, so I decided to start digging for the things that really interested me.  This blog was just a way of sharing the information that I found along the way.

Q:  Where did the name come from?

A:  "What the Heck, Bobby?" is obviously a reference to the Astros Director of Scouting, Bobby Heck, who has made great strides in rebuilding the Astros minor league system which was a shambles when he came on the scene.  Most people don't understand how many years it takes to re-build a system's depth when it has been allowed to go to seed.  I think Heck has done a good job with the system, particularly recognizing that he wasn't given a blank check with which to work.

Q:  But why Bobby Heck?  Why not name it after Fred Nelson [Director of Player Development] since your focus has more to do with the development of the players as they move through the system than it has to do with scouting and the draft?

A:  Um, Bobby Heck's name is catchier than Fred Nelson's?  I suppose I could have called it The Full Nelson, but then I would probably just confuse a lot of wrestling fans.  A catchy name is good because it's easy to remember.  Many people now find my site by googling the name (if they don't have it bookmarked, which they really should, you know).

Q:  With approximately 280+ players in the Astros system during the course of a season, how do you learn about them all?

A:  The birthday write-ups that I do for each player make me really take the time to focus on that player as an individual.  I have identified many players that I have taken particular interest in because of something I saw during that process.  I've also learned more about some of the players through the WTH roster.

Q:  What is the WTH roster?

A:  Each week during the off-season, my readers voted for one Astros minor league player to fill a particular position on a kind of fantasy roster that roughly mirrors what a real 25-man roster would look like.  It was much easier to get to know the best players in the system by looking at them one position at a time.  In the upcoming season, we will track the progress of those players as a group and see how we did in picking some of the future stars of the Astros.

Q:  You also have been doing interviews with some of the minor league players during the off-season.  Can you tell me a little about that?

A:  Well, it started because I saw how accessible some of the players are on twitter.  My first interview was with Kyle Hallock.  I sent him a tweet and he got back with me right away.  I gave him about a week to answer the questions, but I had them back in about two hours!  Since that went so well, I just kept going with it, doing interviews or, in the case of a couple of players, special birthday profiles.

Q:  Has anyone declined to do an interview with you?

A:  Not yet.  At least not directly.  I've contacted a couple of guys via twitter and they haven't responded, but they probably just didn't see the tweets (yes, Mitch Lambson, I'm talking about you!).

Q:  How do you pick the players you want to interview?

A:  I do interviews based on my own personal level of interest in a player.  Sometimes I'm interested in a player because of his stats and sometimes it's because I'm drawn to the player's personality; most often, it's a combination of the two.  (And, so far, it's been a matter of being able to contact them through their twitter accounts as well.)

Q:  Who was your favorite interviewee?

A:  Don't make me pick!  I've loved every one of them.  I felt I made a good connection with Jason Chowning and John Hinson.  And I ended up half in love with Jio Mier and Adrian Houser ... just great, genuine people.  Oh, and I adore Rafy Valenzuela and G (Garen Wright).  And Josh Zeid was super-nice. And Chris Hicks is a character.  Oh, I've really enjoyed all of them!

Q:  Are there any under the radar players that you think we should watch in the coming season?

A:  Do you not even read my blog?!?  I recently did write-ups on what I called "Non-Prospect Prospects" to watch.  These are players that aren't on anyone's top prospect lists, but who I think have a great deal of potential.  In particular, I'm very intrigued by CF Teoscar Hernandez and RHP Luis Ordosgoitti, but there are certainly others.

Q.  Any predictions for the minor league seasons?

A.  The one prediction I'm prepared to make without seeing the final rosters is that Corpus Christi will have the most dramatic improvement of all of the teams.  With what I've heard thus far about the talent being infused into that ballpark, they will not come even close to the 90-loss season they had last year.

Q:  How many people write for your blog?

A:  Well, I'm the only one, except Jordan Comadena did write an occasional guest blog for me before he was released recently.  (Side note:  I REALLY miss having Jordan be a part of this blog.  He is a tremendous person ... someone that everyone is happy to have in their lives.)

Q:  How do you manage that?  What happens if you go on vacation?

A:  Well, it does get a little manic at times.  I talk to myself a lot ... I even thought about interviewing myself at one point.  Can you imagine?  Anyway, as long as I have Wi-Fi access I've been able to post even if I'm on vacation. If I go on a remote trip to the Galapagos Islands or the Pantanal in Brazil, which I've been known to do, I may just have to schedule that for the winter!

Q:  One final question. Are you schizophrenic?

A:  I have never actually been diagnosed as schizophrenic, no.  Why do you ask?