The Launch Angle

Happy Birthday Yuli. I remember when Bregman got him a cake celebrating his 40th birthday when he was 34 or so.

Anyway, Chandler Rome has a piece this morning covering a lot of topics like Yordan and Pena, but one of them is the catcher duties when Diaz comes back.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7343218/2026/06/09/astros-mlb-trade-deadline-yordan-alvarez-jeremy-pena/

He predicts it will probably be more of a split, which I agree with. A lot of fans want Vazquez as the regular but I just don’t think he can handle that workload the rest of the season at his age.

Upon Diaz’s return, the Astros should — and will — divide the playing time more evenly. Seeing how is straightforward. Manager Joe Espada already anointed Vázquez as the personal catcher for Tatsuya Imai. It’s difficult to envision Espada interrupting the rhythm Vázquez has with Spencer Arrighetti, who won American League Pitcher of the Month in May while throwing to him.

Last season, Diaz caught all but four of Hunter Brown’s starts en route to Brown’s third-place finish in Cy Young Award voting. Expect that pairing to continue, too. Who to catch on the other two days — or three, depending on the state of the rotation — will be a fascinating decision for Espada.

I find it funny Rome says its difficult to envision espada interrupting the rhythm between vazquez and spencer though, considering he literally just did it last night by starting Price. Or maybe based on that outing, that’s why its difficult for him to envision doing it again.

So Brown is Yainer’s, Imai and Spencer are Vazquez’.

I would guess Burrows goes to Diaz to try something different. Lambert and Teng just get whoever’s around.