Keepin' It Real

A weekly look at some of the interesting statistics, storylines, and general anecdotes from around the league.
Lots going on in baseball right now, so this week is broken into three parts: the draft, debuts, and, of course, your usual dose of interesting happenings on the diamond ...

They got next

1. Forget the 2015 American League West-leading Houston Astros, what's the 2018 team going to look like? The Astros continue to acquire assets at an impossibly scary rate, and it's got us thinking about how ridiculously awesome their lineup might be in the years to come. More on that later.
2. After a three-year stretch of selecting (and signing) big prospects George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Mark Appel, the Astros reeled in three more top-10 talents on Day 1 of MLB's First-Year Player Draft. What's amazing is they only had two first-round picks.
3. Yes, the Astros might have trouble signing toolsy outfielder Daz Cameron, who nose-dived to No. 37 due to reported bonus demands, but at least they didn't spend their Brady Aiken compensation on him. That pick (No. 2 overall) was used to take LSU shortstop Alex Bregman, while Houston's reward for finishing with the fourth-worst record last year was Florida commit Kyle Tucker at No. 5. That's the kind of Monday it was for the pick-hogging Astros: Safe, less safe, and not at all safe. Befitting of the club with the league's biggest draft budget.

4. Bregman was among a record-breaking shortstop haul in the draft's opening round, beginning with an unprecedented 1-2-3 at the top (Dansby Swanson, Bregman, and Brendan Rodgers) and eight total in the first 36 picks. By the way, the older the shortstop, the better. Five college shortstops were taken in the first round, which is the most in the 50-year history of the draft according to Baseball America's John Manuel.
5. More first-round baseball demographics ...

Positional: Catchers (2), First Basemen (2), Second Basemen (0), Shortstops (8), Third Basemen (1), Outfielders (8), LHP (3), RHP (12)
School: College (18), High School (17), Post-Graduate (1)
Nationality: American (34), Canadian (2)

6. One of those Canadians was off-the-board selection Josh Naylor (Miami Marlins, No. 12). The Prince Fielder comp is the highest position player ever picked from north of the border, but was featured on almost nobody's first-round radar. Expect maybe Greg Hamilton's: "When you're looking for a hitter," Baseball Canada's director of national teams told Sportsnet, "you'd be hard-pressed to find a better one on the planet in high school."

7. One player you won't find in high school or college is post-graduate pick Brady Aiken, who was scooped up by the Cleveland Indians at No. 17. Last year's top pick (by the Astros, of course) experienced first hand the financial pitfall of Tommy John surgery. He initially agreed to a $6.5-million bonus with Houston, which later reduced its offer to $5 million after a post-draft physical, which Aiken rejected. The Indians gambled on him in the first round this year less than three months into his recovery from elbow surgery. He's expected to sign for somewhere close to the $2,393,600 slot value for the 17th pick.
8. The Atlanta Braves also did their Day 1 shopping in the discounted injury bin, opting for California prep southpaw Kolby Allard at No. 14. Allard, a potential top-10 talent and the only left-handed high school pitcher selected in the first round, suffered a stress fracture in his back in late March, possibly contributing to his later-than-expected draft position.
9. Which could make Atlanta one of the success stories of this year's draft. The Braves made a league-high five picks through the first two rounds (including Competitive Balance rounds A and B), took four high schoolers in the first 54 picks and drafted the most players (13) through the first three days of the event.

Texas-sized debuts

10. Incidentally, on the same night the Arizona Diamondbacks made Swanson the first shortstop to go No. 1 overall since Carlos Correa in 2012, the Astros summoned their super prospect from Triple-A for his highly anticipated MLB debut.
11. Correa's first career game turned out to be as much about Chris Sale's brilliance (more on that later) than the hyped 20-year-old shortstop, who had a hit, RBI, and was the only Astros batter who didn't have a swinging strike against Sale.
12. Eight plate appearances into his major-league career, the youngest position player in baseball finally hit his first home run Tuesday. Correa, who smacked 10 homers with 18 steals and a 1.007 OPS in 53 games at Double- and Triple-A this season, added another hit and a stolen base in his second day on the job.
13. There's been some debate as to whether the 6-foot-4 Correa will remain at shortstop long-term, and the general consensus is he probably will for at least the first 10 years of his career. With plays like this, let's hope he sticks:

14. But for the sake of having fun, let's say he moves to third by the time Bregman's ready, and Bregman stays at short because Jose Altuve signs an extension, and the Astros (gasp) sign Tucker AND Cameron, what might the 2018 Astros look like? In a word: Scary.

No.	Player	Pos.
1	Jose Altuve	2B
2	Carlos Correa	3B
3	Kyle Tucker	LF
4	George Springer	RF
5	Chris Carter	DH
6	Daz Cameron	CF
7	Jon Singleton	1B
8	Max Stassi	C
9	Alex Bregman	2B

15. About 300 miles north of Houston, another big-time prospect is getting acclimated to life in the majors. Joey Gallo, taken 38 picks after Correa three years ago, is already showing why Keith Law is obsessed with watching him hit batting practice. The 6-foot-5 slugger set a Texas Rangers record last week by homering in the first two games of his career, including this 114-mph screamer into the upper deck at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

16. Gallo will hit for power at the major-league level and he'll most certainly smash 75-mph curveballs from Zach Duke. But the key to his success, according to Law, will be selectivity and pitch recognition. Law spoke with theScore during spring training in anticipation of Gallo's eventual call-up:

The challenge for him has always been closing holes within the strike zone, where even when he was an amateur and set the state record in Nevada for career home runs, you would still see him swing and miss at stuff in the zone. Some of it was the length of his swing and some of it, I think, was a lack of selectivity, and the fact he probably figured he could hit anything.

17. In related news, Joey meet Chris. Please excuse his slider, it has poor manners.

18. To the mound we go, where another Rangers first rounder just finished his first week in the majors. Chi Chi Gonzalez might have more walks than strikeouts through his first two big-league starts, but he also has more complete-game shutouts than Clayton Kershaw, Corey Kluber, Max Scherzer, Madison Bumgarner, and Chris Sale combined!

Quick hits from around the league ...

19. That Sale doesn't have a complete game this season is especially surprising given the strikeout totals from his last six starts: 11, 7, 10, 12, 13, and 14. Since May 12, the White Sox lefty has struck out a whopping 39 percent of the batters he's faced.

20. Sale's wicked rate somehow pales in comparison to the absurd 46 percent mark Chris Archer has fashioned over his last three outings. You need to see it to believe it:

Date	IP	SO	ER
Jun 7	7.0	11	0
Jun 2	8.0	15	1
May 27	8.0	12	0

21. Speaking of stats so crazy they're hard to believe, here's this week's trivia question: Who's the only player since 1900 with an OPS of at least .700 and a Batting Average on Balls in Play below .200? Answer is five outs away.
22. Hint: It's not Mark Trumbo, who couldn't have been acquired by Seattle at a better time. Robinson Cano is struggling, Nelson Cruz left Tuesday's game with back spasms, and the Astros are starting to slump. Trumbo's home run totals from his previous three seasons in the AL: 29, 32, 34.
23. Yes, there's the Safeco Field thing, and the fact Trumbo's baseball card leaves some to be desired, but the value of depth for playoff-aspiring teams should never be understated. Which is why every club in the AL East, for instance, should be looking to address their glaring holes before their opponent does.
24. Because it's easy when you're winning seven games in a row to forget you're extremely weak up the middle (Yankees) and have serious holes in your outfield (Blue Jays). The Red Sox and their -44 run differential should serve as a constant reminder for them, however, just how desperate they are for pitching.
25. Though it's especially hard to criticize the Blue Jays after they've outscored their opponents 50-19 (entering play Wednesday) during their current winning streak. The Blue Jays are the only AL team with three players among the top-15 WAR leaders, though none of them are projected to land a starting spot in the All-Star Game. But that's for another day.
26. Here's a potential All-Star (and trivia answer) for you: Mark Teixeira, who enters play Wednesday with a .913 OPS vs. an unlucky BABIP of .191 (h/t Rotoworld's Matthew Pouliot). The best OPS with a sub-.200 BABIP was Aaron Hill's .665 mark in 2010, so the chances of Teixeira staying this unlucky is extremely unlikely. Almost as unlikely as an ambidextrous pitcher ...
27. ... but not quite as rare, though, as an amphibious one.