Spring Training Update With Some Personal Observations

The story of this win over the Nationals was pitching. The pitching looked quite good overall. Humber allowed only one hit and one walk in four scoreless innings. Dallas Keuchel cruised through two innings before a leadoff double and a fielding error ended his day in his third inning of work. And Paul Clemens? Wow! More about him later. Both of the Martinez brothers looked good at the plate with Fernando winning the day as he went 2-for-2 with a double and scored a run. Chris Carter also doubled and Jason Castro drove in two with a well-timed, well-placed single.

I was at yesterday's game and I had the opportunity to sit next to a scout. I started by sneaking peaks at his radar gun and I can tell you that Humber was sitting 90-91 on his fastball and hitting 94 in spots. Then I finally had the temerity to actually say something to the scout which, in retrospect, probably seemed somewhat naughty as I alluded to the size of his gun. Thankfully, he didn't take the comment the wrong way (or maybe he did) and we struck up a conversation that lasted through the last several innings.

The scout doesn't work for the Astros so I felt that his assessments were fairly honest. He started out by saying that he had been surprised thus far by what he'd seen of the Astros offense and noted that he thought that the key for the Astros would be to get enough pitching out of the staff to keep the team in games, allowing the offense to get the team a few more wins than people may expect from the Astros.

The scout liked Humber but observed that he was relying too heavily on a fastball/changeup repertoire and needed to get his breaking ball across for strikes. He really liked Dallas Keuchel and said that he reminded him of Wandy Rodriguez in that he wouldn't blow anyone away but he mixed his pitches well, located well and kept the hitters off-balance. When Keuchel struck out the Nationals Corey Brown in the sixth, there was a murmur of appreciation from the scouts around me for the curveball that put him away.

But the real eye-opener for me was Paul Clemens. I missed the first batter as Clemens allowed a single, but I  was back in place in time to see Clemens strike out the next three. When I sat down the scout asked me, "Is that your closer?" I responded in the negative and then asked what Clemens was hitting on the radar gun. The scout responded 96-97. I looked at him to make sure that he wasn't kidding me and he said, "That's why I asked if he was your closer." Clemens then proceeded to sit about 94 on his fastball, hitting a couple of notches higher than that on occasion and then followed up with a 78-79 changeup. The final hitter was so off-balance that he struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt. It was a very impressive performance.

I talked to Bo Porter after the game about Clemens and he said, "Clemens was outstanding. He's a starter by trade, but you get (to) Spring Training and there's only so many guys that can start the game so he's found himself coming out of the bullpen and he's done a tremendous job this entire spring."

I've written previously about the crowd of starting pitchers that will be jockeying for position at AA and AAA after Spring Training and the relative lack of experienced bullpen arms at those levels. After a very tough season for Clemens in 2012, he may have found a way to fulfill his earlier promise as a late-inning bullpen option. It will be interesting to see how things shake out for him.

Spring Training Record: 6-5-2

Spring Training Game 13 Results: Astrose, 4, Nationals 2
Game 13 Minor League Standouts: Paul Clemens

Spring Training Game 14:
Braves at Astros at 12:05 CST (Radio and CSN)
Robert Ford is out for a couple of games and Milo Hamilton is taking over in the radio booth. Apparently, Milo got pranked into wishing "Hugh Jazz" a happy 36th birthday during Thursday's broadcast. Sigh.

SPRING TRAINING RESULTS
Spring Training Game 1 Results: Astros 8, Phillies 3
Spring Training Game 2 Results: Astros 7, Mets 7
Spring Training Game 3 Results: Cardinals 10, Astros 2
Spring Training Game 4 Results: Rays 7, Astros (SS) 2 in six innings
Spring Training Game 5 Results: Astros (SS) 9, Detroit 4
Spring Training Game 6 Results: Astros 10, Blue Jays 1
Spring Training Game 7 Results: Astros 7, Yankees 6
Spring Training Game 8 Results: Astros 8, Cardinals 8
Spring Training Game 9 Results: Astros 6, Braves 5
Spring Training Game 10 Results: Pirates 8, Astros 6
Spring Training Game 11 Results: Tigers 8, Astros 5
Spring Training Game 12 Results: Nationals 7, Astros 1