Like the first flight of the Astros team of Brendan Rodgers helped him manage the “pressure” of being the new boyfriend

MINNEAPOLIS – Last season, the Houston Astros started flying on a new team plane, a Boeing 767 purchased by a billionaire that never saves an expense. Tillman Fertitta purchased the jet in 2019 for its Houston Rockets, adding “Leg space-space construction sites, seats that are flat, high-speed wi-fi, entertainment systems, a completely equipped bar, card tables, meeting areas, even a welcoming bedroom”, According to Paper City magazine.

“I am used to lying on a commercial plane. We have our row, but I am creaking lying on a pillow trying to get comfortable,” said Brendan Rodgers, who has just passed seven seasons with the colorado rocky mountains.

“Now, we have the reclining armchairs and it is a completely different atmosphere with these guys. It is really nice to see. Everyone interacts with each other and it seems really an excellent nucleus.”

Wednesday evening, Rodgers went up to the Baroque plane with an assignment. The second base signed with Astros in mid -February, an embarrassing moment for any newcomer to enter a baseball club house. The spring training programs are scattered and do not allow many significant introductions or interactions.

A two and a half hours trip to Minneapolis felt more favorable. Rodgers began his career as Astros 2-Per-12 during a six opening games of the season in which “he felt the pressure” to be the new boy. The flight gave him the opportunity to decompress. Rodgers talked more, exchanged stories with his new teammates and belonged to some of their card games.

“For my mental well -being, I think he loosened me,” said Rodgers on Thursday. “Lie down in bed, I was thinking:” Be only yourself. “Everyone here are trying to achieve the same thing.

And when he woke up, Rodgers played as someone who listened. He had three shots in Houston’s 5-2 victory against the Minnesota Twins, one more than Rodgers gathered in his first five games like Astro. He led in three of the five seasonal races that Houston marked. The new colleague who arrived Christian Walker chased another with his first home race in a uniform of astros.

“More than anything else of contracts or something, it is just a matter of being the new boy and I want to help the team immediately,” said Walker, who signed a three-year contract of $ 60 million this winter but ended his first 3-to-24 by Houston Homest.

Over four shots in the second inning on Thursday, Walker and Shortstop Jeremy Peña have combined Houston’s total at home from his first six games. Walker struck Joe Ryan’s suspended cocker 402 feet on the second bridge. Peña punished a raised four Marini for a solo race at home.

The first man to greet Peña in the third base shelter of Houston? Walker, a first stoic baseman who is proving to be more difficult on himself than many players of his stature. Manager Joe Espada appreciates Walker’s focused person, but this week he reflected if the 34 -year -old could push to impress his new club.

“They are in four holes. I want to be an important part of this training,” said Walker on Friday. “There are many really good beats and we want to protect each other. I think being the best version of ourselves every day is part of this. Exit and feel as if you do not get frustrating. You feel like you were lowering your teammates, disappoint you a little.”

The peripherals did not paint such a terrible image. Before the race at Thursday, Walker had stated 15 balls with an average output speed of 95.5 mph. Only 13 other shots with at least 15 bars had a higher sign.

I lacked the last two and a half weeks of grapefruit game with an oblique beal obviously had Walker behind, but it is not as if he seemed lost. Walker complained of some of his Swing decisions and a lack of trust in his skills more than anything else mechanically.

“Sometimes you feel as if a Homer is worth more than one single and it is not so,” said Walker. “Get on the base, put a good oscillation, make a good decision and the rest is out of your hands.”

Walker can take comfort in his organizational position. It will start at the first basis every day regardless of its results. Rodgers has no track. It is perhaps the most fascinating player of the Houston roster throughout the following month, in which the organization must decide if Rodgers is a definitive part of their future plans.

Two opt-outs remain on the contract of the minor league of Rodgers: one on May 1st and another on June 1st. According to multiple sources, Rodgers has also signed an early consent form, which means that astros are authorized to oppose the smaller leagues or stop the contract without pay within the first 45 days of the season. The fact that Rodgers is gaining $ 2 million in the Major League roster cannot be overrated, especially for a club that keeps an eye on the luxury tax.

Rodgers started at the second base on Thursday for the fifth time in seven games, perhaps of design. If a ticking watch the club’s final decision, play as much as possible Rodgers seems prudent, if only to see if he can incorporate the changes that Houston asks him to make.

Rodgers woke up on Thursday with a 53.3 percent land ball rate, a trend that astros are working to lower. Hit the coaches Troy Snitker and Alex Cintrón advised him to widen the base of his position in the batting and to break down his hands close to his head.

“(My hands) they were moving everywhere and were never truly in a coherent point to throw the barrel,” said Rodgers. “Now I’m just resting on my shoulder, lifting and shooting from there. It seems much more fluid to me and I am able to repeat it more easily.”

To look at Rodgers, turn on a medium medium Platin and raise a double line from the left wall during the sixth inning suggests that some of the changes work. The base of a two -pit single single through an Infield designed in the fourth may seem contrary to the club’s wishes, but nobody in this club with the offensively challenge will complain about the running production.

“Surely that first home, I heard – I wouldn’t say pressure – but you want to perform you,” said Rodgers. “New team, new guy, you want to achieve those great successes, have those racing at home and things like that. I heard the pressure.”

By nature, Rodgers is not a talkative person. Throughout his career, he hadn’t had to be. Rodgers was a centerpiece in Colorado, the player’s people approached to present himself.

“I have to move through and be the new boy and interact with guys I have never played with and just played,” said Rodgers.

When he did it on the Midwest sky on Wednesday evening, any apprehension is vanished.

“I woke up with a little energy,” said a smiling Rodgers after his biggest star game. “It was nice to come and remove it in the middle.”

(Photo: Photo Matt Krohn / MLB via Getty Images)