Bring back the Chasmanian Devil
When we think of Chas McCormick, most of us think of his 2022 Game 5 catch in center to help the Astros secure their second World Series in franchise history. Come 2024, McCormick has played in only 83 of the teams’ 128 games, batting under .200 with a 55 OPS+ and a K% nearing 30%, all career worsts. His fWAR is a negative 1.5.
So, what happened?
His regression began at the start of the season. By the end of April, McCormick was batting just .236 in 21 games with three extra base hits. Part of the problem seems to have been a loss of plate discipline. Through that first full month of the season, he was striking out 27.7% of the time while only walking 10.8%. And yet April was the high point of McCormick’s 2024 season
At the same time in the 2022 season, McCormick was only striking out in 17.9% of his plate appearances.
And as if this slow start wasn’t enough, Chas was placed in the IL on May 1st with right hamstring discomfort, putting him out almost the entirety of May.
During that time, the team was getting strong performances from their other outfielders. Jake Meyers and Mauricio Dubon both ended May hitting at least .300 and Kyle Tucker hit 11 homers that month. So, when it came time for Chas to return, manager Joe Espada didn’t have anywhere to put him.
By the time Chas was back, he was able to play in five games in May and only went a combined 1 for 16, striking out five times, including three in one game and not walking once. The month of June was more of the same for him, playing in 16 games and only tilling 11 hits. It was not until June 15th, his 33rd game of the season, when Chas hit his first home run of the season.
Chas got an opportunity in June with the injury to Kyle Tucker. Yet his struggles continued all through June and into July when he played in only 18 games and hit just .200. While his strikeouts were down that month to only 15, he was still having trouble at the plate. That was when his problem shifted from the strikeout to the fly out.
What has changed with him?
The biggest change with him at the box, other than his eye, is how and where he is hitting the ball. Infield fly% this year is up more than two times what his previous highest percentage was. Chas has been dropping his back shoulder and is getting under too many pitches.
This, along with the problems with his eye, has caused him to go after a lot of bad pitches and pop them up on the infield, rather than being able to make solid contact and get the ball into the outfield.
He is swinging more at pitches both in and out of the zone compared to previous years. This is something else that is causing not only the weak contact but also the strikeouts and lack of walks.
His 3% increase in swings on pitches out of the zone and over 6% increase on swings inside the zone means that he is putting the ball in play more, but he is not finding the barrel. Both his barrel% and HardHit% are at career lows.
If he wants to improve over the next month and keep his spot on the roster, he’ ll have to get his plate discipline and stroke back, and quick.
What can be done about it at this point?
While it is too late in the season for him or the team to do anything major, there are still some actions that can be taken to help him and hopefully get him to a point where he can be a help for the playoff run and hopefully during the playoffs. New signee Ben Gamel already looks to compete for one of the outfield spots with his play so far, making Chas’ s challenge all the more difficult.
One solution would be to send him down.
While this is something that no player like McCormick would ever want to hear, it does not seem like he has other options now. So far this season, he has played in at least 15 games every month except one and hasn’t had more than 10 hits in any month since the first month of the season. He is coming off his worst month so far, currently 3-40 with three singles, two walks and 13 strikeouts.
If this is something the team wanted to do, it is something that would have to be done now. With the Triple-A season ending at the end of September, the sooner the team sent him down, the more at-bats he would have the chance to figure it out. While this can be a confidence killer for some players, this would not be something new for McCormick, seeing as he was in the minors just three seasons ago in 2019.
Another option, which no one would want, is to leave him off the playoff roster.
With roster expansions coming up in the next couple days, there are going to be some players that get the chance to come up and make a name for themselves in the short amount of time they have. If more guys come up and perform well, like Zack Dezenzo and Shay Whitcomb, then there may not be any room for McCormick in the playoffs.
If he wants his chance to make the playoff roster, especially with the imminent return of Kyle Tucker, then he has to change now or go down and make the necessary changes in the minors before time runs out for him to return to form.
But in his current condition, while in the thick of a tough pennant race, the Astros simply can no longer afford to play Chas McCormick.