McCormick, García make Opening Day roster

Chas McCormick was working out in the weight room in West Palm Beach, Fla., the other day. Meanwhile, his phone was ringing off the hook in the clubhouse. Word was spreading on social media that McCormick had made the Astros’ Opening Day roster, and his parents were calling him to ask him if it was true.

While McCormick pumped iron, veteran outfielder Michael Brantley answered the phone and chit-chatted with McCormick’s folks for a while, before handing the phone to Chas. Then the emotions and tears started to flow on the other end of the line. McCormick was going to be traveling with the Astros to start the season in Oakland, where he will make his Major League debut.

“It’s obviously surreal and amazing,” McCormick said. “It’s an amazing opportunity they gave me, and they provided me every advantage this year to make the team. I can’t thank them enough. … I’m excited for this opportunity. I’m ready to go.”

The Astros have all but finalized their Opening Day roster, with manager Dusty Baker announcing Monday that outfielder McCormick and infielder Robel García had made the club. The backup infield and outfield spots were the final decisions to be made in terms of which 26 players the roster.

What’s preventing the team from announcing its roster for Opening Day is center fielder Myles Straw, who was scratched from the lineup for Saturday’s Grapefruit League game for health and safety protocols. Infielder Abraham Toro and catcher Garrett Stubbs are also in quarantine, but they didn’t make the club.

Baker said Monday he hoped to have the players cleared soon.

“We’re getting closer,” he said. “We can know as early as maybe this afternoon or tomorrow morning.”

This will be the first time on a Major League regular-season roster for McCormick, who was placed on the roster for the American League Wild Card Series and AL Division Series last year but didn’t play in a game. Being on the 40-man roster gave him the nod over Jose Siri, who was on a Minor League contract. McCormick has played the corner outfield spots more than center, but he said Monday that he got enough reps in center field this spring to where he feels comfortable.

“Coming into this year, I knew I had a chance,” he said. “I wish I just played a little bit better, maybe [I] put a little more pressure on myself than I should have this spring. I’m real excited and looking forward to the challenge.”

McCormick, a 21st-round Draft pick in 2017, appeared in 110 games in 2019 between Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Round Rock, hitting .269 with six doubles, six triples, 14 homers, 66 RBIs and 16 steals. He played seven games in the Dominican Republic this winter and had his season cut short when he suffered a Grade 2 quad strain. Those are the only games McCormick has played since ’19.

“He was high on the radar last year,” Baker said. “We wished that he could have played in the Minor Leagues another year. Also, the fact he was on the roster. That was probably the No. 1 reason, and the reason he was on the roster is the organization felt he was ahead of the other candidates on the pecking order. … I was urged to play him down the stretch, but I was trying to get to the playoffs and didn’t have the room or we didn’t clinch early enough to see what he can do.”

García, claimed off waivers from the Angels on Feb. 27, is a switch-hitter who can play who shortstop, second base and third base, in addition to left field. García, 27, appeared in 31 games over two brief stints for the Cubs in 2019, hitting .208 with five home runs, two doubles and two triples in just 72 at-bats (.500 slugging percentage).

That same season, he hit a career-high 27 home runs combined in stops at Double-A Tennessee (22 games) and Triple-A Iowa (76 games), while posting a .954 combined OPS. A native of the Dominican Republic, he signed with Cleveland in 2010 but was released four years later. Garcia wound up playing in Italy and caught the eye of the Cubs, who signed him.

"[García] and Toro, that was a very tough decision,” Baker said. “Toro struggled last year, but he really showed a bunch of improvement this spring. He improved a lot and he improved so much that possibly he might have elevated himself to maybe an everyday player. And the organization felt maybe he should go play to hone his skills versus be cast into that [utility] role at such a young age, where García is older and already in that role.”