The Launch Angle

I suppose, alternatively, I could have used the title “Prepare for trouble, and make it double!”, considering yesterday evening’s game against the Orioles was postponed into a traditional doubleheader today, with the second game starting 30 minutes after the first.

I’m not actually a Pokemon fan, but my kids were watching it before school this morning, so it’s in my head.

The first game will be started by Peter Lambert. I discussed him in yesterday’s piece. We’ll be looking to see if the new improved “U Can’t Touch This” Lambert is still around, or if his time in the sun will be as short as MC Hammer’s. Give it a read. Lambert is one of the more interesting stories so far this season.

For this preview piece, I wanted to talk about coaching, and hopefully do it before this doubleheader starts at 11:30 a.m. central time.

Hitting

The Astros hitting coaches Troy Snitker and Alex Cintron took a lot of heat from fans last year and former Astro Josh Reddick downplayed the importance of hitting coaches:

The hitting coaches can only do so much. They’re not the ones going to the plate with the bat in their hands… Their job… (is) to be the glorified cheerleader. They’re supposed to make you feel really good about yourself, make you feel confident going into that at-bat, and after that they go back to preparing you for what you need to be prepared for. So their job is to get you prepared, and then get you confident enough to go into that batter’s box with your head up, and not going in there with a negative thought in your mind.

I never had any strong feeling one way or the other about Snitker, but I always thought that Cintron needed to go. Not because of the hitting, but because he always seemed to be at the center of every maelstrom and dustup. He was the focus of the incident where Ron Kulpa ejected AJ Hinch (and Cintron) in 2019. When the A’s Ramon Laureano got so upset, he tried to charge the Astros dugout in 2020, he was angry at Cintron. Before the 2019 ALCS, Alex Cintron was the source of ire for the Yankees and their third base coach Phil Nevin, upset that Cintron flipped them off after accusations of cheating with whistles. It seemed to be a pattern, so I was never Cintron’s biggest fan.

However, the hitting last year was well below standards, and the hitting coaches are as easy a scapegoat as any, so Snitker and Cintron were fired. Victor Rodriguez was hired.

Without actually being in the clubhouse, it’s only speculation how much changing the hitting coaches really made a difference, especially if they are just “glorified cheerleaders.” This season though, despite the Astros AL worst record, the hitting has ranked at or near the top of the league in every category. As of this morning, the Astros are #1 in the AL in runs, AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, Off, wOBA, and wRC+, and 3rd in HR.

Troy Snitker was hired as the Mets’ hitting coaches. By stark contrast, the Mets (who have the worst record in the majors), are last in the NL in SLG, OPS, Off, wOBA, wRC+ and bottom 3 in Runs, AVG, and OBP.

Alex Cintron is the hitting coach for the Rangers now, who rank last in the AL in runs and bottom 5 in OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, Off, and wRC+.

You can say the hitting coaches are just cheerleaders, but the 2025 Astros underperformed as hitters, and their hitting coaches have gone on to other teams in 2026, and now those teams are underperforming as hitters, while the Astros are no longer.

Pitching

By that same logic, you can wonder why the Astros brought on Ethan Katz as assistant pitching coach, after he was let go from the White Sox after being their pitching coach from 2020-2025. From 2023 to 2025, the White Sox ranked in the bottom 5 of the AL in most pitching categories (ERA, xERA, FIP, xFIP, pitching WAR). This year the Astros are last in most pitching categories, as has been well detailed on this site.

So maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea to bring on the pitching coach of one of the worse teams in pitching performance.

That’s not the whole story, but it’s something to consider. While Katz is a new addition, he’s not the head pitching coach, he’s the assistant one. Josh Miller is still on staff as the senior pitching coach.

Miller and former junior pitching coach Bill Murphy were the proteges of pitching coach legend Brent Strom. When Strom left after the 2021 season, he made it a point to credit Miller and Murphy with most of the more recent pitching successes, such as Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy and Framber Valdez, and emphasized that not only were the Astros in good hands with Miller and Murphy, but that if Strom were to stay, it would almost certainly mean that other teams would come and hire Miller and Murphy away as their pitching coaches.

That’s what happened after the 2025 season; the Pirates, where Strom worked last, offered junior pitching coach Murphy the position of pitching coach in Pittsburgh, which he accepted.

With Murphy as pitching coach, the Pirates are now a top 3 team in the NL in ERA, xERA, FIP and pitching WAR.

So are the Astros’ pitching woes attributable to the change in junior pitching coach? That’s one of the variables that have changed, but it’s not the only one. As Clack examined last week, the change to an ABS Strike Zone may be something that the Astros pitching style is having difficulty adapting to, as well.

Catching

Lastly, (and right now it’s a race to finish this piece before first pitch of the doubleheader comes) I wanted to touch on the change in catching coaching. Pitching and hitting get most of the attention, but TLA Reader Ragtime reminded me the other day that the Astros also hired a new catching coach this season, Tim Cossins, who was the Orioles’ Major League field coordinator/catching instructor from 2019-25 (and who held similar roles with the Cubs and Marlins prior to that.)

Yainer Diaz has been a source of frustration for Astros fans. I’ve written previously about his downward career trajectory as a hitter. But he’s not catching well either behind the plate, which has led TLA reader and friend SATim to ask:

Yainer is last in the AL in Framing Runs at -1.4 on Baseball Prospectus and -1.8 on Fangraphs. He’s been about average, maybe a little better than average in Blocking Runs at 0.1 on Baseball Prospectus. And he’s at -1 for rSB (Stolen Base Runs Saves runs above average) on Fangraphs. Blocking runs and Throwing Runs usually take a little bit more of a sample size to see who separates out as good and bad. The leaders for rSB right now have 1, and the last catchers have -1, for example.

Is this on the new catching coach? Well here’s the thing. This is who Yainer has always been as a catcher. In both 2024 and 2025, he’s been towards the bottom of the league at framing, towards the median at rSB and a little bit above average at blocking runs.

That kind of profile (bad framer, ok thrower, decent blocker) was passable when he producing as a hitter, the way he did in his rookie year. It’s less acceptable when he has a 62 wRC+ like he does this season.

So while Yainer’s defense has seemed poor this year, it’s not actually a whole lot worse than how he’s typically been. It’s just not as easy to overlook in the setting of his poor hitting.

Astros @ Orioles Doubleheader Game Information and Gamethread Details

In Game 1 of the doubleheader, Lambert will start opposite 37 year old right-hander Chris Bassitt of the Orioles, who sports a 6.75 ERA over 5 starts, with an unsightly 10 strikeouts and 13 walks across 21.1 innings. The Astros will not want to let this game get away from them.

The game will be broadcast at 11:35 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM.

Game 2 of the doubleheader will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1. Lance McCullers, Jr. will face off against right hander Brandon Young who carries a 2.53 ERA over 10.2 innings and 2 starts this season.

This post will be updated with starting lineups for the second game as they are made available.

Update for Game 2:

We hope you will join us and the rest of the Launch Angle community for the game! The turnout has been fantastic on the TLA Discord Server for the game threads.

Join us again for today’s game. Just join the Discord server using this link: https://launch-angle.com/discord .

For more detailed instructions, please see the Guide to the Launch Angle.

If you’ve participated in game threads on other Astros sites in the past, you will probably see a lot of familiar names. Chat, lurk, do whatever! (But please say “hi”, so we know you’re not a bot.)

Feature Photo by Pixel Pete.