2017 Houston Astros season


The 2017 Houston Astros season was the 56th season for the Major League Baseball franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 53rd as the Astros, fifth in both the American League and AL West division, and 18th at Minute Maid Park. They entered the season as having posted an 84–78 record, in third place and 11 games behind the division-champion Texas Rangers.
Dallas Keuchel made his third consecutive Opening Day start on April 3 for Houston, who hosted the Seattle Mariners and won, 3–0. The Astros' first round draft pick in the amateur draft was pitcher J. B. Bukauskas; they also chose outfielders Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick in the 13th and 21st rounds, respectively.
The Astros sent six players to the 88th All-Star Game, including second baseman Jose Altuve, center fielder George Springer, shortstop Carlos Correa, and pitchers Keuchel, Lance McCullers Jr., and Chris Devenski. First baseman Jeff Bagwell, who had spent his entire 15-year major league career with Houston, became the second inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame as an Astro.
Near the end of August, the Astros acquired pitcher Justin Verlander at the trade deadline, who won his first five starts. Meanwhile, as Hurricane Harvey impacted Greater Houston, the Astros relocated their August 29–31 series with the Rangers from Minute Maid Park to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Following the storm, Astros personnel assisted with rebuilding and charitable efforts around Houston.
On September 17, the Astros clinched the AL West with a 7–1 victory over the Seattle, for their first AL West division title, eighth division title overall, and 11th postseason qualification. The Astros defeated the Boston Red Sox, 3–2, on September 29 to claim their 100th win of the season for their first 100-win season since 1998.
Following the regular season, the Astros met the Red Sox at home in the American League Division Series, and defeated them in four games. Houston then advanced to the American League Championship Series and defeated the New York Yankees in seven games for their first AL pennant. After going 2–0 with a 0.56 earned run average and 21 strikeouts, Verlander was named ALCS Most Valuable Player. The pennant was Houston's first since winning the National League pennant in 2005. The Astros' season culminated with the first World Series championship in franchise history, winning in seven games over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Springer, who tied a World Series record with five home runs, was named World Series MVP.
The 2017 Astros featured the highest-scoring offense in the major leagues, the highest batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. AL batting champion Jose Altuve won a number of distinctions, including Most Valuable Player, Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year, and Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. Altuve joined Bagwell as the second Astro to win the MVP, winning it in 1994.
Because of its record-setting numbers and individual accolades, this Astros batting lineup is often cited as one of the highest-performing in history.
The season was later marred by a sign stealing scandal that ultimately led to significant backlash from baseball fans, the loss of draft picks and a record setting fine from the MLB, and the dismissal of employees in the organization that were directly linked to the scandal.

Offseason

November 2016

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November 3, 2016Claimed OF Nori Aoki off waivers from Seattle.
November 4, 2016Traded RHP Pat Neshek to Philadelphia for a player to be named or cash. Exercised the 2017 option on C Evan Gattis.
November 6, 2016Selected the contract of LHP Reymin Guduan from Fresno.
November 15, 2016Named Alex Cora bench coach.
November 16, 2016Agreed to terms with RHP Charlie Morton on a two-year contract.
November 17, 2016Traded RHP Albert Abreu and RHP Jorge Guzman to New York for C Brian McCann.
November 19, 2016Announced Buies Creek will serve as a temporary Class A-Advanced affiliate through the 2018 season.
November 23, 2016Agreed to terms with OF Josh Reddick on a four-year contract.

December

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December 5, 2016Agreed to terms with Carlos Beltrán on a one-year contract.
December 6, 2016Claimed LHP Ashur Tolliver off waivers from the L.A. Angels.
December 9, 2016Agreed to terms with LHP Cionel Perez on a minor league contract.
December 13, 2016Signed a 30-year lease agreement with Fayetteville, N.C. to relocate their Class A Advanced affiliate to Fayetteville beginning with the 2019 season.

January 2017

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January 9, 2017Agreed to terms with C Luis Barajas on a minor league contract.
January 10, 2017Named Darryl Robinson hitting coach, Aaron DelGiudice development coach and Lee Meyer trainer of Fresno ; Omar Lopez manager, Chris Holt pitching coach, Troy Snitker hitting coach, Mickey Storey development coach, John Gregorich trainer and Mark Spadavecchia strength coach of Buies Creek, Russ Steinhorn manager, Drew French pitching coach, Ben Rosenthal hitting coach, Jason Bell development coach, Elliot Diehl trainer and Hazael Wessin strength coach of Quad Cities ; Morgan Ensberg manager, Bill Murphy pitching coach, Jeremy Barnes hitting coach and Daniel Cerquera trainer of Tri-City ; Erick Abreu pitching coach and Jacob Behara strength coach of Greeneville
January 14, 2017Agreed to terms with LHP Dallas Keuchel and OFs Jake Marisnick and George Springer on one-year contracts and with INF Reid Brignac, C Juan Centeno and LHP C.J. Riefenhauser on minor league contracts.
January 19, 2017Agreed to terms with RHP Mike Fiers on a one-year contract.

February

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February 2, 2017Agreed to terms with RHP Dayan Diaz on a minor league contract.
February 7, 2017Agreed to terms with RHP Will Harris on a two-year contract.
February 17, 2017Agreed to terms with INF Marwin Gonzalez on a one-year contract.

March

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March 14, 2017Reassigned RHPs Edison Frias, Cy Sneed and Aaron West, LHP Brian Holmes and C Garrett Stubbs to their minor league camp.
March 16, 2017Reassigned OF Andrew Aplin, RHP Brady Rodgers and LHPs Reymin Guduan and Ashur Tolliver to minor league camp.
March 16, 2017Optioned OF Andrew Aplin, RHP Brady Rodgers and LHPs Reymin Guduan and Ashur Tolliver to Fresno.
March 18, 2017Reassigned OF Ramon Laureano and RHP Francis Martes to their minor league camp.
March 22, 2017Assigned C Max Stassi outright to Fresno. Optioned INF/OF Tony Kemp, OF Teoscar Hernandez, 3B Colin Moran and 1B A.J. Reed and Tyler White to Fresno. Reassigned C Tyler Heineman and 1B Jonathan Singleton to minor league camp.
March 25, 2017Reassigned OF Alejandro Garcia, RHP Jordan Jankowski, OF Jon Kemmer and RHP Tyson Perez to their minor league camp. Granted LHP C.J. Riefenhauser his unconditional release.
March 29, 2017Optioned OF Preston Tucker to minor league camp.

April

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Regular season

Summary

April—June

The Astros began the regular season at home versus the Seattle Mariners on April 3, 2017.
One of the most memorable and debated manifestations to hallmark the 2017 season was Jose Altuve's height and style of play contrasts with that of New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge. At and, Judge was a rookie who emerged as his chief rival in the 2017 American League Most Valuable Player race, eventually breaking the record for both home runs hit and walks drawn by a rookie while leading the AL. In July, of the pair standing side by side in game versus the Yankees that displayed their drastic size difference and became a viral phenomenon.
Two Astros pitchers were awarded the AL Pitcher of the Month Award in the first two months of the season. In April, left-handed starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel posted a 5–0 win–loss record, allowing six runs in six games started and 1.21 earned run average over innings pitched. It was his fourth career monthly award, making him the first Astros pitcher to win four; J. R. Richard was the other Astros pitcher who had won three. Keuchel joined Bartolo Colón, Félix Hernández, Justin Verlander as active pitchers who had won at least four.
From May 6−23, starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. completed 22 scoreless innings, which among Astros pitchers, was the longest scoreless inning streak since Roy Oswalt delivered 32 from August 27 through September 11, 2008. In that same span, McCullers also became the first Astros pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1984 to allow no earned runs over at least five innings pitched in each of four consecutive appearances.
During the May 14 game versus New York at Yankee Stadium, third baseman Alex Bregman hit his first major league grand slam off Masahiro Tanaka in a 10–7 Astros win. On May 20, Keuchel was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a pinched nerve in his neck.
Facing an 8–2 deficit on May 29, the Astros authored an epic comeback by exploding for 11 runs in the eighth and ninth innings to outlast the Minnesota Twins, 16–8. Carlos Beltrán led the way, collecting four of Houston's 18 hits.
Shortstop Carlos Correa delivered a career-best five consecutive multiple-hit games from May 25−29, and totaled 14 such games on the month. In May, he was selected for his first AL Player of the Month Award, and McCullers his first AL Pitcher of the Month Award. In 26 games, Correa batted.386, eight doubles, seven home runs, 26 RBI and a 1.130 OPS. His batting average and RBI total led the AL, on-base percentage ranked third, hits and OPS fifth, and slugging tied for sixth.
McCullers was credited with a 4−0 record in six starts during the month of May. He permitted an AL-leading 0.99 earned run average, 21 hits, and a.164 batting average against with 37 strikeouts. He also ranked second in wins, third in BAA, and tied for fifth in strikeouts.
With persistent neck problems, the Astros placed Keuchel back on the disabled list on June 8.
On June 14, Derek Fisher homered and collected an RBI single for his first hits, both as part of an Astros' 9-run sixth inning to lead a defeat the Texas Rangers, 13–2. Fisher became the first major leaguer to get his first two hits in the same inning since Adam LaRoche did so on June 7, 2004, for the Atlanta Braves. Jake Marisnick also homered for the Astros, whose hitting gave Francis Martes his first major league win, also making his first major league start.