The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Joe Espada Joins the Show After Win 805 vs Detroit Tigers

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

Joe Espada Joins the Show After Win 805 vs Detroit Tigers

Right now, though, we have to go to the Astros manager himself. Joe Espada. Matt is out this week. He's traveling with the Rockets. And you have me and Adam with you here, Joe. Rockets, we've been talking a lot about them making some lineup changes. You made a change at the top of your lineup, Jeremy Payne, with some results so far. How much of that was Altuve just coming to you?

And that's why you went with him at the leadoff spot or also rewarding Jeremy Pena for what's been a pretty good couple of weeks offensively for him? Both, both. I think Jeremy has really improved his offensive approach and I think it was a combination of trying to get

him going, trying to mature as a hitter and continue his developing his offensive approach and also trying to get Altovae you know, locked in and I think this two spot will help him having Jeremy in front of him hopefully continues to get on base

having Altova an opportunity to potentially hit with some people on base, have more time to get ready for his at bat sandwich in there between Yordaun and Perez, hopefully creating some traffic for two of our best hitters right now, which is Yordaun and Paredes with men in scoring position. And a lot of the numbers for Jeremy Pena looked really good. You look at the expected slug, the hard hit percentage, all that type of stuff. It's been way up for him. Is this the real deal?

Are we looking at a breakout season, you think, from Jeremy Pena? Well, you know what? I'm just going to speak to what I see right now, and I really like the approach. His preparation every single day he's putting the work in exactly what we have asked him to do, and he's coming to his own. He's trying to figure some stuff out. So I really like where he's at right now, and hopefully we could get this going. This will be really good for our lineup if we could get someone with that kind of speed and that kind of dynamic approach in a top of our order, and we could continue moving. forward and giving our, you know, our offense some more chances to, to score more runs.

And what is that like for you when you're building lineups? Do you guys just have some machine and you just type in against this pitcher and this matchup and this is what it spits out, this is what's going to score the Morse runs? What is that? It don't work like that. There's no, there's no machine. I wish there was a machine, but there's no machine, you know, there's information that we use. You know, I use information like, you know, what the matchup looks like. I look at the pitch shape against some of our hitters that day. I try to stack it the best way we can, but there's no secret sauce to this.

You know, you're trying to put the best players on the field in a position to succeed. Talking to Astros manager, Joe Espada here on Sports Talk 790. Joe, Christian Walker with another Homer last night, how much, in your opinion, and this is the first time I've had a chance to talk to you in this kind of setting since the season began, How much was he putting pressure on himself and how much can that kind of, you know, play mind tricks on a guy in a situation like his where he's, you know, he's a guy who's a big addition to the lineup, gets the contract, all that kind of stuff, and he might be pressing a little bit. Do you think that was going on? You know, what's your assessment of him as we get to the tail end of April here? Yeah, I think he's been transparent in how he's felt since he got here.

You know, he wants to be, he wants to, he wants to post and he's posting. He's trying to do the best he can. He's trying to get big hits for us. He knows he was a big off-season acquisition. And he's trying to, you know, he's trying to produce for us. And I know eventually he will. And he's starting to come around. I think the last couple of games, his approach has been better.

He's staying in his own hit that ball hard. Fastball kind of open in, the fastball that he's been trying to get to. That shows that he's in a better spot. But we just need to let, you know, it's early in the season. and this guy's been a really good hitter for a long time. But I think, you know, in the beginning, he was trying really hard. He didn't have much of a spring training, so he's trying to play a little bit of a catch-up.

But I think he's starting to come on his own here the last couple of games. And also in the middle of the lineup, it's nice to have Yordon going. Is it feel like your job's a lot easier when he's driving and runs, especially like he did on Sunday? Oh, my goodness, yes, it is. You know, he is, it's a force. when he is, when he comes to the plate and you know that he's swinging the belt,

when you know he's feeling good, you know, you know, the pitcher is in danger, right? He is getting to that spot where we know that he's really close. I said this a couple of days ago. He's getting really close. And once he clicks, I think everything just comes together. Joe, let's, speaking of dangerous pitchers, I guess you talk about a pitcher that's in a dangerous situation.

A guy who's putting in hitters in a lot of dangerous situations to start the year is Hunter Brown. I mean, you've got some real good talent on your staff right now. And obviously, Eric Getty, when he comes back, we'll add to that along with some other guys. But even in your wildest best expectations, did you see this kind of start for Hunter? Yes, to be honest with you, you know, a very humble way. I DC, you know, Hunter getting out to a really good start based on what he did last year. He's off-season, terminated this job, getting ready for the season, understanding the adjustments that he needed to make to come out of the gate throwing the ball he's doing.

He's one of the best in the game, and I'm not surprised the success he's having. Now it's us to keep him moving forward, keeping him healthy. This kid is so well-prepared. He wants this so bad. He has step up to be our age right now. Yeah, and, I mean, without giving too much away, he had some mechanical adjustments that he made last season and had some sense. success, you know, after the first month and a half, two months maybe.

What kind of adjustments, what kind of preparations are you talking about, if you can say? Yeah, you know what? For me, it's more how we see himself. You know, when you first get to the big leagues, you're trying to get to know yourself at the major league level, right? Like, you know, you think you have a pretty good idea of who you are, and you think you have a pretty good idea how to get, you know, hitters in the big leagues.

But unless you go through struggles and, you know, the struggles and, and figure out this is not working for me and allow us to help you make those adjustments throughout the season, that's when you really learn your strength and weaknesses as an athlete in general. And I think that's the thing about Hunter. We all knew he had this stuff. We all knew that he had the demeanor to do it. and the grit and the toughness to do it.

He went through some struggles. He allowed us to help him. You know, let's change how you use your repertoire. Let's just make these adjustments on how you use your frasco against righty, how you use your breaking most against left. You know, and he, okay, this works for me. Now, once he gets everything going, now he is, now I got a pretty good idea.

How can I prepare myself? Now I know how to read a report. Now I know how to execute my game plan. And that's where he's at right now. And speaking of pitchers that have things working for him, Ryan Gusto thrust into a starting role after being in the bullpen. What has been the key for him to be so successful in these spot starts? You know, right now what he does really well, he throws a ton of strikes. He is not afraid of contact.

You know, he comes after you and you need to have that mentality to pitch in this level and to sustain success at this level. and I think he's doing a really good job of that. Now he's trying to get him deep into the games, getting three times through the lineup. That's always a challenge for any young pitcher. And we're helping him go through that, but I'm really pleased the way he's been throwing the ball. Do you have a starter for tomorrow?

Yes, I do, but I'm not going to share it with you guys right now. I'll share with you guys later. All right, all right. Keep it close to the vest. That's okay, Joe. Appreciate the time, and we'll talk to you next week. All right, guys. You guys, take care.

I appreciate it. There you go. Joe Espada here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross.