Razzball is Grey and Grey is Razzball. We all come for the puns because, well, they are tons of fun. And Grey is the freaking master. The mixture of the cackle and mustache is like combining apple cider vinegar with honey. The daily boba intake is quite impressive. So much so that I’m thinking of opening a boba stand right in front of his house. Grey ain’t one of those posers who is all show and no go. There’s real shit under the hood. SAGNOF. Enough said. He definitely has a type as well, and I’m not talking about his Asian fetish. I think the below song should be the new Razzball theme:
Grey likes the players that go BOOM! As well as VROOM on the basepaths. Strikeouts be damn. Now, Son used to be a nitty little nerd who gravitated toward the low strikeout players who exhibited excellent plate discipline. I will fundamentally usually side with that profile, but I’ve become much more open to the Greyers, those players with power/speed combo but with high strikeout rates. Chas McCormick of the Houston Astros is a Greyer. I saw that he was being dropped in ESPN leagues so I wanted to give him a little respect.
McCormick is 28 years old, 6-foot, 208 pounds, and bats from the right side. The Astros selected him in the 21st round of the 2017 MLB Draft.
Early on in his minor league career, there wasn’t a ton to get excited about, unless you were nitty fantasy nerd. The walk rate was around 10% while the strikeout rate was in the 11% range. The ISO was barely above .100 and the batting average was in the .260 range. He hit double-digit home runs just once and did show off a little speed, but nothing too crazy. The high was a combined 19 stolen bases across two levels.
In 2019, the power started to show, as the ISO was .204 while the plate discipline remained excellent. The walk rate was 12.4%, strikeout rate was 15.1%, and he contributed 10 home runs and seven stolen bases in 225 plate appearances.
McCormick finally made it to The Show in 2021. He hit 14 home runs and stole four bases in 320 plate appearances. The walk rate was 7.8% while the strikeout rate was 32.5%. The ISO was a more-than-respectable .190 and he ended up with a .257/.319/.447 slash.
The following season, he received 407 plate appearances and contributed 14 home runs and four stolen bases. Deja vu! The walk rate went back up to 11.3% while the strikeout rate came down to 26%. The ISO was .162 and the slash was .245/.332/.407.
Not bad, but nothing crazy either. McCormick was a utility outfielder and looked to be locked into the role for the Astros.
He did make the Opening Day roster for the Astros for the 2023 season but suffered an injury and spent some time down in Triple-A. He returned on May 8th and, since then, McCormick has slashed .285/.369/.531 with a 9.6% walk rate, 28.8% strikeout rate, and .246 ISO. He racked up 14 home runs and nine stolen bases.
That ain’t bad, yo!
For the entire season, the slash is .284/.371/.526 with a 10.1% walk rate, 28.2% strikeout rate, and .243 ISO in 308 plate appearances. He has 16 home runs and 13 stolen bases.
The BABIP is .361, so the batting average will likely come into the .240 to .250 range. He does have speed (68th percentile in sprint speed), so an elevated BABIP isn’t entirely out of the question. That said, McCormick doesn’t hit the ball on the ground too often. The line drive rate is 23.3% while the fly ball rate is 40.6%. That’s 74th in all of baseball. The HR/FB rate is 21.9%, 20th-best in MLB. I don’t think that’s fluky either, as it was 17.7% and 16.1% in the prior two MLB seasons.
McCormick pulls the ball 45.4% of the time and goes oppo 19.7%. Interestingly, when he does go oppo, it goes BOOM! He has only one single to right field. Eight of his home runs have gone over the right field fence, five of his 13 doubles have gone to the right side and one of his two triples.
The plate discipline numbers aren’t great, but they are also not egregiously vomit-inducing. The swinging strike rate is 13.8% while the chase rate is 31%. Contact in the zone is 80.9% while he swings at 46.6% of pitches. McCormick does take his fair share of walks, so he’s selective and pounces when he thinks it’s optimal.
The biggest improvement I see from McCormick is his success against sliders. Last season, Fangraphs showed McCormick with a -10.9 runs above average against the pitch. This season, he’s at 6.6. Statcast had him with a .105 batting average and .137 SLG against breaking pitches. This season, the batting average is .268 while the slugging percentage is .515!
McCormick has always crushed left-handed pitching, and he’s slashing .341/.407/.598 against them this season with a .256 ISO. While the strikeout rate is 30% against righties, the slash is a respectable .258/.356/.495 with a .237 ISO against them. McCormick has a career .174 ISO against righties.
McCormick isn’t batting atop the lineup, but he’s in the 5 to 7 slots for an Astros team that is sixth in runs scored. Chasball! Chasball! Chasball!
