The team drafted him, developed him, then brought to MLB. He chose to play nearly all of his career here and gave us some incredible memories along the way.
I’m feeling nothing but respect and gratitude for Lance McCullers, Jr. today.
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I was there, thanks to your kindness and generosity! I remember us watching and saying “has he thrown anything other than the curveball this inning?”
I too appreciate everything he did. He’ll always be a great Astros in my book. But yeah…the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. He’s been done for a while.
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I had the privilege of seeing Lance and Correa in rookie ball. Because of some duties I had at the park, I got to see them in the dugout and hallways of the locker room. I was around rookies for 10 years. Those two had more gravity of leadership than any other players I saw. Correa was the most mature 18 year old I had ever seen. I have seen 18 year olds come in and try to be a leader but Correa was a leader. It was just who he was. McCullars had the ability to connect with every person on the team. When they were together, which was often the case, they were always engaging others and having fun.
That was an amazing draft class. Eight of the first nine picks made it to the majors:
Correa
McCullars
Nolan Fontana
Rio Ruiz
Brett Phillips
Preston Tucker
Tyler Heineman
The long pick who didn’t make it was 5th rounder Andrew Alpin who made it to AAA.
Two other signed picks made it to the majors as well. Mike Hauschild (33rd round) and Jordan Jankowski (34th round). Both were claimed off waivers after being DFA’d and made debuts with other teams and only pitched in 9 games combined in their careers. But it just goes to show that this draft was special. 2015 was also very special. Both of those had extra picks and pool money. Let’s hope the Astros have the same success with this draft.
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The first time I saw Lance pitch was during one of the exhibitions at MMP after spring training in 2015. Texted my friend “McCullers is filthy. Underrated if anything.”
I just went back and looked at Baseball America’s preseason Astros list in 2015. McCullers was ranked #11 in that system. Hard to believe in retrospect. Of course, at that time it was generally believed he’d have to move to the bullpen. And the biggest moment of his career did come in relief, I guess.
Bizarre to think of him in another uniform.
Looking ahead to the next set of moves, here are the CBT estimates from the 3 main public sources
Cot’s - $233,090,671 - 10.9m CBT space
Fangraphs - $233,179,492 - 10.8m CBT space
Spotrac - $231,074,906 - 12.9m CBT space
After last years fuckup I can’t see them risking getting right up to the line, so can probably add 10m in payroll at the deadline and leave 1m cushion
I still think they should sell, not buy, at the deadline. But, they won’t unless they crash and burn after the break, so probably not worth discussing
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As noted in the draft thread, that fuck up probably cost the Astros ~ $500k in their signing bonuses. That’s looming especially large at the moment as they try to sign everyone in the class, which is probably the best one in maybe ten years.
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26 of the 31 players on that 2015 BA list made it to MLB, 4 others topped out in AAA. That’s pretty good.
https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/prospects_team_year/2015~13~BA/
Brice Matthews to the IL, Lucas Spence called up only 2 years after going undrafted in 2024. He hasn’t exactly lit it up in the minors this year, really surprised he’s getting the call
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He was hitting for much of the year in AA. .269/.371/.433. That is an .804 ops. He was promoted to AAA at the end of 6/23. He hasn’t played in but 17 games at AAA. He has been very strike out prone at AAA (22 in 67 PA) but is hitting .246/.313./.386
He is also 13 of 15 in SB attempts between the two levels this year.
FYI Jake Myers since he went down in three games has a slash line of .222/.364/.889 - In 11 Plate Appearances 2 hits/2 HR, 2 walks, 4 Ks.
Play outfield? Hit from the left side? You will get a shot on the 2026 Astros.
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Yikes, Jake. Go down to AAA from the bigs and get outhit by the guy just up from AA.
In the lineup tonight. Why?
Small sample size for sure but what concerns me is strikeout rate at AAA and also his walk rate dropping from 14% last year at AA to 9% so far this year.
I hope he hits well but this definitely feels like a desperate attempt for signs of life rather than a guy forcing you to call him up
“Desperation is a stinky cologne”
My guess is he’s getting a baptism by fire, and if he doesn’t impress he’ll be the next DFA guy when they need to bring the third pitcher back to the 40-man. Or maybe he impresses and gets used as trade bait.
Where do I report?
Spencer Morris pointed out on twitter that he actually beat the entire 2024 Astros draft class to the majors. That’s not an indictment of their 2024 draft class, there are some decent prospects in there, really just an enormous credit to Spence.
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Rome reports Nate Pearson has been DFA. Ray Delgado back in the clubhouse this morning.
Delgado is in today’s starting lineup.