A couple days ago the Atlanta Braves finally answer the offseason trade rumors on their slugger Evan Gattis, when they traded him to the Astros in exchange for three prospects. This trade makes it more confusing of the path that the Atlanta Braves are headed down, but for the Astros, the path is very clear; to compete in the very near future. Acquiring Gattis is the 5th big offseason move made by the men at Minute Maid Park so far, and it is a powerful one.
Evan Gattis will be the 3rd head of the power hitting monster in Houston that also consists of George Springer and Chris Carter. The 3 added together last year had a total of 79 homers in 331 games played, which was a major contribution to their slugging percentage being .486. The Astros also have 3 other hitters (Jason Castro, Jon Singleton, Matt Dominguez) that are all capable of hitting 17+ homers due to their consistency of 15 home run a season powers. Even though Houston had to give up 3 good prospects, it was worth it because of the depth the Astros’ farm system has and the higher possibility of winning a playoff spot in 2015 with an exciting explosive offense.
Evan has had so much potential the last few years, power-wise, but it wasn’t until 2014 that Gattis got his chance to shine after Brian McCann departed to the Yankees during the 2013 offseason. Despite only having appeared in 108 games, the big 6 foot 4 inch outfielder/catcher, Gattis, still produced 22 big flies. At that rate he could very well have hit 30+ for his 2014 campaign. The one thing that does stand out though, is the fact that he was slugging just under .500 while playing in a pitching heavy division in the National League. With Gattis arriving to Minute Made Park (produced more homers in 2014 than Turner Field), he should no doubt hit at least 30 balls into the seats (if he is healthy); considering that the AL West does not have as talented pitching as the NL East, along with the American League being hitter heavy.
The addition of the big Atlanta slugger surely does make the 2015 Houston Astros lineup intriguing with 9 men deep. Houston could very well be the next Cinderella story, just like the Royals were this past year. The Astros’ 3.8 runs/game in 2014 now has the great ability of rising to above 4 with the veteran presence of Gattis over the young stud looking lineup that will be a year older in 2015.
