Last wave of Astros stars departs for Classic

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Astros said goodbye Monday to their final three participants in the World Baseball Classic, with catcher Martín Maldonado, second baseman Jose Altuve and shortstop Jeremy Peña appearing in their last Grapefruit League game, a 7-1 loss to the Cardinals, before leaving to represent their countries.

Even as Maldonado, who’s playing for Puerto Rico, was getting dressed to head out to camp in Miami on Monday, there was good-natured ribbing in the clubhouse between him, Altuve (Venezuela) and Peña (Dominican Republic). The Astros have 14 players representing five countries in Major League camp, so the banter has been constant.

“It’s healthy trash talk and I love it, because that’s how it is in our countries,” Peña said. “We live for baseball and to compete against my own teammates is pretty good.”

For Altuve, the Classic experience begins Wednesday when Venezuela -- managed by Astros first-base coach Omar Lopez -- faces the Astros in an exhibition game in West Palm Beach. Altuve played for Team Venezuela in the 2017 WBC.

“Since I remember, probably [as a] 10-, 11-year-old kid, I was trying to make the Venezuelan team to go to the world championships and stuff,” he said. “It’s always a dream for me and for every single Venezuela kid, or Dominican, or Puerto Rico or American kid, to represent their country, and I’m really happy and excited. It will bring me a lot of memories.”

Maldonado will be playing in his second WBC, having represented Puerto Rico in 2013. This year, Puerto Rico is in Pool D with Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Israel and Nicaragua. The Astros have six players representing the D.R. -- pitchers Bryan Abreu, Ronel Blanco, Cristian Javier, Rafael Montero, Héctor Neris and Peña. That means eight Astros players will be competing against each other in Miami.

“It’s exciting, especially when the majority of our team [playing in the WBC] is going to be in Miami and going to see each other and competing against each other,” Maldonado said. “It’s one of the best tournaments I’ve ever played in in my career.”

Command evades Brown
The second spring start by Astros top prospect Hunter Brown was the tale of two innings. Brown struck out a pair of batters and allowed one hit in the first inning against the Cardinals on Monday afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium before walking three consecutive batters to start the second inning.

With Brown’s pitch count already at 40 (21 strikes), manager Dusty Baker was forced to pull him before he recorded an out in the second. Brown, the Astros’ No. 1 prospect who will likely be in the rotation to start the season, was clearly frustrated.

“We didn’t want to take him out, but his pitch count got high early,” Baker said. “That was the story of the game.”

Brown threw 24 fastballs and 12 sliders, averaging 96.6 mph with the heater and 93.2 mph with the slider. Brown registered the hardest average slider in the Majors last year at 93.2 mph, just ahead of Jacob deGrom (92.6), but command is the key.

“I got to two strikes in two of those counts and didn’t put them away,” Brown said. “I threw some good pitches and they fouled them off and then I lost them. Didn’t really have the putaway stuff.”