Isaac Paredes' fit, Cam Smith's defensive future and Yordan Alvarez's progress: Astros takeaways

New York Times

19 hours ago

HOUSTON — Isaac Paredes prepared for an imperfect transition. He'd already been traded twice during his five-year major-league career, creating some preconceived notions about assimilating into a new environment. Before entering the Houston Astros' clubhouse, he manufactured another.
'At first in spring training, I thought it was going to be harder because you have all these superstars, so I thought it was going to be more strict,' Paredes said Sunday through an interpreter.
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'But it's the complete opposite. It's very relaxing. They've been very open. And that gives (me) the confidence to go out there and play ball.'
Nothing better explains how the Astros function. Rosters and roles change, but their ethos remains entrenched. Becoming the third major-league team to reach 50 wins only reinforces the notion. Doing so with a deluge of injuries is a testament to something so many presume is trite.
Houston's clubhouse culture can't be quantified and is almost impossible for outsiders to explain. Closer Josh Hader called it 'dudes just doing it.'
'We don't have many rules,' utilityman Mauricio Dubón said earlier this week. 'If you perform, if you're ready to go at 7 p.m., OK, good. Get between the lines. We try to make everybody feel comfortable.'
Paredes is the perfect example. He is perhaps the quietest member of Houston's clubhouse, someone who stayed away from all of the attention around this weekend's three-game series against the Chicago Cubs. Kyle Tucker, Ryan Pressly and Cam Smith received most of it instead.
Paredes may prefer it that way and, now, resides in a place that allows it. He is understated but not undervalued. In a lineup craving consistency, Paredes has provided plenty, pounding a team-leading 17 home runs while bringing the sort of patient, pesky approach the Astros lacked for so much of last season.
No American League hitter sees more pitches per plate appearance than Paredes. On Sunday, he saw 37 across the four at-bats he took. No Astro since 2000 had ever seen more in one game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Paredes saw 31 of the 107 pitches thrown by Cubs starter Jameson Taillon. He only totaled one hit — a bloop single in the first — but the energy Taillon expended against him shortened his outing. Manager Joe Espada said it 'really set the tone' for a lineup that is struggling to find its footing while Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Peña nurse injuries.
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Paredes' .826 OPS trails only Peña for the team lead. He's worked a team-high 42 walks and is one of four players with an on-base percentage above .350.
Paredes' pull-happy approach is ideal for the Crawford Boxes at Daikin Park, but even his empty at-bats bring value. Take Sunday's fifth inning, when he fouled off four full-count pitches from Taillon.
Paredes flew out on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, but pushed Taillon into uncharted water. He had not thrown more than 100 pitches in a start all season. Paredes got him to 101. Taillon's 107th pitch arrived two batters later. Jose Altuve deposited it into the left field seats, an outcome not possible without Paredes' persistence.
'It seems like he fits perfect here,' Altuve said.
Dana Brown can't abandon his scouting background, so during his first three summers as a general manager, he has made it a mission to see every amateur player the Astros are considering with their first-round draft pick
Last year, the journey brought Brown to Charlotte, N.C., where he saw a player Houston had no prayer of selecting at No. 28. Brown still scouted Cam Smith for two games of Florida State's run to a runner-up finish in the ACC Tournament.
Brown believed in the player, but not at his primary position. Smith starred at third base for the Seminoles before the Cubs selected him with the 14th overall pick in the 2024 draft. Smith made all 24 of his defensive starts at third base during his brief time in the Cubs' system.
Brown believed Smith's legs were too big to remain at third base for his entire career. Smith is just 22 and stands 6-3, meaning he may fill out more as he matures. Brown did not think that would be conducive to a career at third base.
'I didn't feel like, as a scout evaluating him, that he was going to be this piece at third base,' Brown told the Astros' pregame radio show on Sunday. 'I like my third basemen to be a little more agile on the dirt and I just thought this guy was more fast and strong, so it's probably more of an outfield piece.'
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Acquiring Smith in December allowed Brown to test his theory. Team officials publicly maintained that Smith would play third base during spring training, but according to Brown, he advised his staff that 'I don't feel we took this guy for him to play third base, my vision for him is right field.'
Early returns paint Brown as prophetic. According to Sports Info Solutions, Smith entered Sunday worth nine defensive runs saved in right field. Only Adolis García and Fernando Tatis Jr. have been worth more.
'One of the things you do as a scout, you go out and you make your evaluation and you always try to place the guy where you think he's going to play in the future,' Brown said.
It is clear, then, where Smith's future will be.
Fierce swings from an absent slugger pierced the silence of a sleepy Sunday morning at Daikin Park. Yordan Alvarez took a few rounds of batting practice on the field, peppering both gaps with line drives while delivering the most meaningful signs of progress in his recovery from a hand fracture.
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Alvarez exited the batting cages and boarded a flight bound for West Palm Beach, Fla., where he will spend the next few days at the Astros' spring training complex. Alvarez is scheduled to face some of the team's rehabbing pitchers in live batting practice sessions.
Espada would not divulge what may follow. Scars may still linger from what occurred on May 30, when Alvarez reached this same juncture in his buildup, felt discomfort and then discovered the fracture in his right hand.
At the time, the Astros intended to activate Alvarez without sending him on a minor-league rehab assignment. That he's missed another month since would seem to heighten the need for one.
Still, during his interview on the team's pregame radio show, Brown brought up the possibility of Alvarez joining the team at Dodger Stadium this weekend.
The general manager couched his comments — 'It's not the most likely scenario, but we're not putting that aside,' he said. — But that it is even being considered is noteworthy. After the Dodgers series, Houston has just six more games until the All-Star break.
Peña's decision to hire Scott Boras as his agent will complicate what the Astros spent the last month or so trying to do — lock up the resurgent shortstop on a long-term deal.
'What it will not change is it will not change us making an effort to get Jeremy signed long-term here,' Brown told the team's pregame radio show on Sunday
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Brown acknowledged it can 'sometimes' be difficult to sign Boras' clients to an extension because 'oftentimes they go to free agency.' Jose Altuve and Lance McCullers Jr. are two exceptions currently on Houston's roster.
Boras negotiated two extensions for Altuve and another for McCullers, but bear in mind, both players preferred to stay in Houston instead of becoming free agents. Perhaps Peña feels the same way and will express that to Boras.
If Peña does not, Boras' preference is almost always for his clients to test the open market.
(Top photo of Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve: Tim Warner / Getty Images)