The Baby Astros Somehow Just Keep Winning — Bregman, Alvarez Injuries and a Forced Youth Movement Show What a Culture of Excellence Can Do

Myles Straw gets the ice water bath — or at least a small cooler with ice dumped over his head by grinning, worldly vet Yuli Gurriel. But he misses out on the other traditional accompaniments that usually go with a Major League walkoff. But at least, this young Astro can joke about it.

“It was awesome,” Straw says of his first career walkoff hit, setting up the perfect deadpan. “I think the fans loved it. It sounded very exciting in the stadium after.”

Of course, there are no fans in the ballparks these days — and very few people overall. And the only sound is the cheers of the Astros players themselves.

Walkoff wins are not what they used to be. They do not fit the dream that every baseball player has of a packed stadium roaring for them. But they still count. For a Houston Astros team with a razor thin margin — one that seems to get thinner by the day — they actually may count more than ever.

Straw’s first career walkoff came the day before wonder slugger Yordan Alvarez was lost for the season (after two games played and one home run hit) with a lingering knee injury that will finally get surgery. The day before Alex Bregman went down with an apparent hamstring injury, too. It underscores a new reality for a franchise that’s been the most dominant (and controversial) one in baseball over the last three seasons.

These 2020 coronavirus season are not those Astros. The Baby Astros will determine if this team can make the playoffs again, now.

This is not exactly the stuff of anyone’s masterplans. But it’s reality nonetheless. Who plans on the assumed ace (Justin Verlander), the closer (Roberto Osuna) and the reigning Rookie of the Year (Alvarez) all going down with devastating injuries? Who plans on George Springer facing a variety of nagging injuries in a contract year? Who expects the American League MVP runner-up to come up hobbled on the same day that the Rookie of the Year’s season is declared over?

It’s now all about somehow surviving to advance to Rob Manfred‘s bloated 16-team coronavirus season super October bonanza. For the first time ever, baseball’s postseason will be more like college basketball’s March Madness than anything else. It’s all about just getting in. And if you get in — and happen to be playing well at the time — anything will seem possible. Jose Altuve can be hitting .180 in August as long as he’s right by October and the Astros are still standing.

To be one of the 16 teams playing in October, Houston must rely on The Baby Astros. Guys like Myles Straw, the super speedster and pinch runner extraordinaire who may be making more outfield starts than he ever imagined this season. Guys like Brandon Bielak, a 24-year-old former 11th round draft pick who looks like one of Astros pitching coach Brent Strom’s greatest success stories early. Guys like reliever Andre Scrubb, who played his college baseball at 4,500 student High Point University.

The closet Scrubb got to the Majors at High Point came in playing fantasy baseball. Fast forward several years and there Scrubb is on a sunny summer day in Minute Maid Park, facing a few of his first round fantasy baseball draft picks. Only, it’s real life.

“That’s the cool thing about debuting and playing in The Show,” Scrubb says. “You’re seeing guys I watched in college, I drafted in fantasy. It definitely gives you an extra little bit of adrenalin.”

Scrubb struck out Colorado Rockies star shortstop Trevor Story, his former first round fantasy baseball pick, to end the top of the 11th inning on Tuesday, setting the stage for Straw’s dramatic, low-volume walkoff — a single past a five man infield.

Another one of The Baby Astros — Garrett Stubbs, a USC product who first made the Majors at age 26 — set up the game winner by laying down a bunt to move the lead runner to third.

“Stubbs is a player that has a lot of confidence and he’s also a fundamental sound player,” Astros manager Dusty Baker says. “He’s one of the best bunters on the team.”

A bunt. A single past a gimmick infield defense. A surprise, last-minute start. Striking out the guy who used to carry your fantasy team. This is the stuff of The Baby Astros. And this is what must keep the heart of Houston’s baseball season beating.

Yes, Houston’s should be superstars — at least the ones still standing — need to perform. And there is shortstop Carlos Correa hitting a home run Wednesday night in Colorado as the Astros (14-10) pushed for a seventh straight win. And there is Kyle Tucker adding a two-run triple and a two run homer in a four hit night. But it’s Taylor Jones, another one of The Baby Astros, making his first two Major League hits RBI singles that helps blow the game open.

The Baby Astros are determined by experience more than age. After all, young “vet” Correa is 25, younger than Stubbs (27), Jones (26) and Cy Sneed (27), card-carrying members of The Baby Astros.

The Astros bullpen has already been almost completely Baby Astros dependent. Strom is more than validating his status as a Pitching Yoda this season, helping rookie arm after rookie arm pitch to their strengths.

“They’ve all been very good,” Zack Greinke, the 36-year-old master professor who’s been great, says of the Astros’ young pitchers. “I think I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the pitching development of the organization. To be able to have as many young arms come up as we have and they all are throwing multiple pitches and locating them. I haven’t seen that very often.

“Even one guy coming up and doing some of that stuff is rare.”

One guy would not be enough for these Astros, whose pitching is now Greinke brilliance and youth. They need an army of them. Now, The Baby Astros are becoming a big part of the lineup, too.

It’s not ideal. It’s not what anyone planned. But it’s the reality of this 2020 coronavirus season. It’s Baby Astros — or bust. Making it to Manfred’s version of October Madness will require the kids to be more than all right.