The Launch Angle

The Lone All-Star State

The 2026 Midsummer Classic is a little over two weeks away. Phase 2 fan voting opens at 11 a.m. CT. While Ernie Clement beat out Yordan Alvarez as the top vote-getter in the AL in Phase 1 of fan voting, there’s no real danger that Alvarez won’t be named an All-Star. Even if the aggressive Blue Jays fanbase rally to vote George Springer in as the starting DH in Phase 2, as an MVP candidate contending for the triple crown, Alvarez would still get in by players’ vote.

Beyond Alvarez, it’s hard to make a case for any other Astro. The entire pitching staff can easily be ruled out. Hunter Brown and Josh Hader have been on the IL most of the season. One month of May does not an All-Star make out of Spencer Arrighetti, who frankly might be optioned in the near future, not just because of his poor June, but because Lance McCullers, Cristian Javier, and Ronel Blanco are coming back soon, and Arrighetti still has options available. As nice of a story as Peter Lambert is, the Astros found a consistent bottom of the rotation piece in him, not an All-Star.

On the infield, Pena and Paredes were All-Stars last year, but Paredes hasn’t played to that level this year. Pena’s been good, but he’s missed too much time to injury. It’s hard to see him being selected over Bobby Witt Jr., Kevin McGonigle, Colson Montgomery or even Gunnar Henderson. We all literally love Jose Altuve, but he’ll be the first to tell you he’s not been an All-Star this season. I won’t even bother bringing up the catcher position.

That leaves Christian Walker at first base. Earlier in the season, I thought Walker might get his first All-Star nod. Entering yesterday, Walker had 18 home runs and 53 RBI. The problem is that doesn’t really stand out among AL first basemen. 5 other AL first basemen had at least 17 HR. 6 other AL first basemen had at least 50 RBI. First base is loaded in the AL.

So in all likelihood, Yordan Alvarez will head to Philadelphia alone (and probably be lobbied hard to participate in the Home Run Derby), and be the Astros’ lone representative. That’s not really a big deal; the All-Star Game is meaningless, but it’s interesting to note that the last time the Astros had just one All-Star was 2014 (Jose Altuve, of course). For 5 years, 2010 to 2014, the Astros were a “one All-Star and that’s it” franchise.

12 years later, they might be again. Let’s hope this is an aberration, because 2010 to 2014 weren’t the greatest of years competitively.

AL Westworld

The Astros took 3 of 4 against the Tigers and have won 5 series in a row. The Rangers swept a 4 game series against Toronto. Meanwhile, the Athletics and Mariners have each dropped 2 out of 3 in their last 2 series. The AL West is now tighter than ever.

The Astros are now just 1 game behind the division leader, and now the division leader is the Rangers. Any one of these teams could enter the All-Star Break as the division leader. Even the Angels broadcast team feel like they have a shot at it at the division this season. Yes, the same Angels that just fired their GM 2 days ago.

This division is nuts… and maybe not that great. Consider this though: the AL Central isn’t that great either. Their leaders (CHW and CLE in a tie) are just 4 games above .500, and just 2 games ahead of the AL West leader. So not only could the Astros go into the All Star Break as division leader, they could conceivably do so as the 2 seed!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. After all:

Peter Lambert vs. Zebby Matthews

Peter Lambert will start the first game of the homestand against the Twins. Lambert, the Astros’ most consistent starter this year, didn’t have a great game his last time out against the Blue Jays. He only made it through 4.2 innings, and it was a slog getting through those, with 3 walks and 6 hits, including a home run. Fortunately, with the help of his defense, he got out of a lot of jams, left a lot of those runners on base, and allowed only 2 runs, in what would eventually be an Astros win in extra innings.

It should be noted that Lambert’s last start was the first time he had been caught by Yainer Diaz all season. Christian Vazquez had caught all but one of his starts (which was caught by Cesar Salazar). Even in spring training, Yainer Diaz only caught Lambert once, his last spring start, and that didn’t go all that well: 3 runs 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 strikeout in 3.1 IP against the Mets.

On the season, Lambert is 6-4 in 12 starts with a 3.28 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 8.4 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9.

The Twins send Zebby Matthews to the hill. Zebby is short for Zebulon; his full name is Daniel Zebulon Matthews. I know you were curious.

Matthews, a 3rd year right-hander, is a tower of a human being, 6’5″ and 225. In 8 starts this season, he is 3-5 with a 4.56 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, a 7.1 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. I’m sure you were expecting a higher K rate from someone of that stature, and I think Matthews is expecting a higher one too. His first 2 years in the majors, he had K/9 rates of 10.3 and 10.0.

Matthews leans heavily on his 4 seam fastball. It averages 95.1 mph, and he has touched 98 mph this season, but it’s his breaking pitches that have given him more success. Against RHH, he pairs his fastball with his slider primarily, although he does mix in a curveball, cutter and sinker. Against lefties, to complement his 4-seamer, he likes to use a changeup that he rarely uses against righties, but also mixes in the slider, curve, and cutter.

Matthews has been inconsistent this season. In his last 5 starts, he’s had 3 where he’s only allowed 2 runs, and 2 where he allowed 7 runs. His last 2 starts were of the 2-run variety.

Twins @ Astros Game Information and Gamethread Details

The game will be broadcast at 7:10 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM.

This post will be updated with starting lineups as they are made available.

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

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Feature photo from  @astros on X,  Source Link.