HOUSTON -- One of the first things reliever Penn Murfee did when he arrived in the Astros' clubhouse in the spring was to seek out shortstop Jeremy Peña. After all, it was Peña who hit a game-winning home run off Murfee in the 18th inning of Houston's Game 3 win to clinch the 2022 American League Division Series. "I said, 'Hey man, this is better than last time I saw you,'" he said. "I got out in front of that one." Murfee, acquired off waivers from the Braves on March 27, has fit in well in the Astros' clubhouse while rehabilitating from the UCL procedure he had in June 2023. He started joining the team on road trips last month, and is aiming to return to action to help Houston in the final few weeks of the season. "I'm thankful I've been able to be here and develop some relationships with the guys," Murfee said. "It hasn't been weird at all. It's been sitting on the sidelines, but it's also afforded me a chance to look at the game through a different lens and look at hitters without having to think about facing them that night. Just kind of take a 30,000-foot view and observe the game. You learn a lot by being on the plane and with the guys at the hotel and on the road. It's been huge to be able to get to know all these guys." Murfee, a 30-year-old from Nashville, Tenn., last pitched in the big leagues for the Mariners in 2023, posting a 1.29 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP with 16 strikeouts in 14 innings. As a rookie in 2022, he appeared in 64 games for Seattle and posted a 2.99 ERA and a 0.952 WHIP. He's throwing bullpen sessions and will soon be sent to the team's Spring Training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., to face hitters. "I threw 30 pitches [in the bullpen Saturday] and probably about 13 or 14 sliders, and I felt like I could pitch against the next day," Murfee said. "It's been awesome. I feel very, very good. I feel strong and healthy." |
Murfee, who relies mostly on a slider but throws a four-seam fastball as well, is eyeing a late August return to the mound, which would come just in time to help an Astros bullpen that could use an extra arm. "My job is to do everything I can to be healthy to contribute to a big league bullpen," he said. "That means throwing back-to-back games and taking a certain workload on. That's all I'm focusing on is being available and being ready. And what happens after that, happens. I'd like to be here in late August, if possible. I want to get out there and help these guys, and [I] would love nothing more than to strap it up and go to battle with them." Murfee faced the Astros 10 times in 2022 in the regular season, and he struck out 12 and gave up one run and five hits in 14 innings. The Astros, of course, swept the Mariners in the ALDS in '22 en route to winning a World Series title. Murfee said the players he played with in Seattle and the current Astros club are made up of players who are cut from the same cloth, which has helped him fit in well in Houston. "I knew these guys were gamers," he said. "That's the main thing I remember about them. They got up to play every single day and looking at some of the leaders in the clubhouse like [Jose] Altuve and [Alex] Bregman, there's just a culture where they come every single day playing to win. I didn't like facing this lineup. It's been great to be here, though." |
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THIS WEEK IN ASTROS HISTORY |
July 26, 2015 Astros legend Craig Biggio took his spot among baseball's legends when he was enshrined alongside Randy Johnson, John Smoltz and Pedro Martinez into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. On a warm Sunday afternoon in Cooperstown, N.Y., before 45,000 fans -- many of whom were wearing orange Astros jerseys -- Biggio delivered a heartfelt and poignant speech. More than 50 living Hall of Famers, including his former teammate Nolan Ryan, shared the stage behind him as he gave his speech. "What an incredible honor it is to be standing in front of these great men," Biggio said as he began his speech. "I've played against a lot of them, I admired a lot of them, I respected all of them."
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Astros catcher Yainer Diaz has settled into the cleanup spot in Houston's batting order since the absence of All-Star right-fielder Kyle Tucker, who's been out since June 3 with a right shin contusion. Diaz was moved to the No. 4 spot in the order on June 16, and has responded by slashing .312/.339/.393 with 19 RBIs and one home run entering Wednesday. Last season, Diaz had a home-run percentage of 6.1 percent -- this season, that mark is down to 2.2 percent (entering Wednesday). One of the biggest reasons why his homers have dropped is that he's not hitting the ball in the air as much as he did last year. His homer on Saturday in Seattle had an 18-degree launch angle, skimming the top of the wall as it just cleared the fence. Diaz's launch angle has gone from 11.5 degrees on average in 2023 to 9.0 degrees in 2024. His ground-ball rate is up from 44.3 percent to 51.6 percent year over year. And his sweet-spot rate (the percentage of batted balls in the optimal launch-angle zone of 8-32 degrees) has dropped from 36.9 percent to 32.8 percent (all through July 20). Astros manager Joe Espada said the team has made some minor adjustments with Diaz, such as staying inside the ball, to get him to elevate more pitches. "We like the base hits; we like the hard hits." Espada said. "It's just making little adjustments where some of those balls he's hitting hard maybe go in the outfield [and] can turn into a sac fly, can turn into a double. He's so strong and he's got such good bat-to-ball skills that if he can drive some of those balls into the gap, being so strong, those balls will turn into home runs. You've got to do it with caution. You don't want him to change his swing or his approach." |
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