FYI, it isn’t one of the usual suspects.
Well, Alex Bregman is now a member of the Red Sox. Another franchise cornerstone has left the Astros once they reached free agency. Such is life, I suppose. In fact, only two players remain on Houston’s 40-man roster from the 2017 World Series title run (Jose Altuve and Lance McCullers Jr.). That tidbit has lost some of its poignancy the further removed we are, but you get the point. We’re all left with only memories at this point. Regular season consistency. Postseason glory. Slow starts. Unforgettable moments. And, unfortunately, a sign-stealing scandal. All represent a part of Bregman’s legacy in Houston. I know this comes across as an obituary of sorts, but his official departure is the closing of a chapter.
A little over four years, I wrote one of my favorite posts ever, highlighting George Springer’s top home runs at the time by leverage index. It was a fun little exercise that offseason following his signing with the Blue Jays. Well, If only my GIFs were still working, but you can look up those moments on Statcast or YouTube. I won’t, however, repeat the same exercise for Bregman, mostly due to the fact that I want to do an opposite take. In fact, I want to be subjective a little bit. In this case, I’d like to concentrate on what I believe is one of the more singular moments of his career: The infamous pop up walk-off against the Padres way back in April 2018. It is also arguably one of my favorite, if not the top one, of his moments as an Astro.
Bregman had plenty of clutch moments as an Astro, without a doubt. So many great hits or timely defensive plays at third base. But this sequence of events against the Padres in 2018 was unforgettable in its own way. In fact, it was Gerrit Cole’s home debut with Houston, and it was a well-pitched game from both sides. The Astros’ staff — Cole, Chris Devenski, Will Harris, and Ken Giles — struck out a combined 14 hitters while allowing a lone walk across ten innings. The Padres used a combination of six pitchers, including future Astro Phil Maton, but they kept Houston scoreless for nearly the entire evening. I remember watching this game, and it was a fun one simply due to the pitching from both sides. I’m a sucker for those kind of games.
Back to Bregman, though. The lineup was struggling plenty in this game, much as it did the game before (the Astros lost 4-1). Houston’s lineup couldn’t buy a run, but they were creating some traffic on the basepaths. Six walks and five hits prior to Bregman’s at-bat in the 10th inning. They just couldn’t convert by this point. It appeared more of the same was going to happen as a 3-2 four-seam fastball thrown high from Maton — seems familiar, right? — did its job: It induced a pop-up from Bregman. But thanks to Eric Hosmer simply overrunning the ball and losing track of it, the ball dropped behind him. Ultimately, Bregman was rewarded with a walk-off hit…on a batted ball with a 0% hit probability.
Alex Bregman’s walk off hit… 83 MPH at a 78 degree launch angle. 0% hit probability.
— Daren Willman (@darenw) April 8, 2018
Again, this was a regular season game from way back in 2018. Bregman didn’t even hit the ball well, but he still got a walk-off off a future teammate driving in a then-teammate who also scored from second in a certain World Series game in dramatic fashion the previous year. Yet watching the game and seeing the moment unfold live from the comfort of my living room certainly left a mark on my mind all these years later. It was a fun and unexpected sequence of events that led to an unlikely win. There were certainly more impactful plays involving Bregman throughout his tenure, but this one, for some reason, stood out to me when the news broke about his signing with the Red Sox. But it sure was a fun ride, right?