Editor’s note: We’re thrilled to introduce Chandler Rome on the Astros beat for The Athletic. Chandler has covered the Astros since 2018 at the Houston Chronicle. His work has been recognized six times in the Associated Press Sports Editors annual contest. Chandler will answer subscriber questions during a live Q&A at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday. This is his first story for The Athletic.
Dominoes are at the heart of Mauricio Dubón’s reawakening.
The infielder’s offensive identity disappeared after the Astros acquired him last May. He abandoned a career-long approach and swung for power he did not possess, prompting an offseason of wondering how it all went askew.
The search for answers started in spring training; one particular teammate seemed the most logical place to start.
“You don’t say ‘Hey, I want to be a millionaire’ and then ask a guy on the street …,” Dubón said. “You have to say, ‘I want to make money’ to a guy who’s already a millionaire. I want to learn how to hit again, (go) to a guy that’s the best hitter in the league.”
Yordan Alvarez diagnosed Dubón’s problems and presented him with a path forward. The initial conversations from February and March have evolved into a daily routine over the first three weeks of Houston’s season. The two have adjacent lockers inside the home clubhouse at Minute Maid Park, where Dubón can pepper Alvarez with whatever hitting questions he has or prepare with him for that day’s starting pitcher.
Sometime in between, the two break out a set of dominoes. Dubón played throughout his childhood in Honduras. First baseman José Abreu brought his own set to spring training and turned Dubón on to a style he and Alvarez know well: “Cuban dominoes,” Dubón calls them — playing Double Nine instead of Double Six.
After the Astros lost their road opener against the Minnesota Twins on April 7, Dubón went to Alvarez’s hotel room and played against him. Alvarez hit a grand slam the next afternoon. Dubón supplied two hits of his own during a 5-1 win at Target Field.
“We just stick with it now,” Dubón said. “We play every day. We go at it. It’s good because it’s not lopsided.”
How dedicated is the duo to this new hobby? On Monday afternoon, an Astros clubhouse attendant delivered a portable dominoes table to Dubón’s locker at Minute Maid Park. He and Alvarez split the cost and plan to take it on road trips.
“We talk about approach, the guy tomorrow, a lot of stuff,” Dubón said of their games. “It’s more relaxing than anything else. It’s fun to talk hitting with a guy like that instead of looking at a computer to see what’s wrong.”
The two are total opposites in stature, swagger and slugging percentage, but they share a common goal. Jose Altuve’s fractured right thumb threatened to cripple the Astros’ lineup in April. Alvarez and Dubón have teamed up to keep it afloat. Alvarez’s success felt like a foregone conclusion. Dubón’s is perhaps the biggest surprise of the early season: a career utilityman who has cemented himself as the Astros’ everyday second baseman until Altuve’s expected return in early June.
“A lot of people are trying to help him and I think Yordan has played a big role in that,” bench coach Joe Espada said. “When (Dubón) first got here, he tried a few different things, but now he’s finally found something that works and a voice that is helping him and he feels comfortable leaning on. … In the dugout during the game, (Alvarez) is one of those guys that you want to go up to and talk about hitting. He has a way of slowing the game down that is hard to teach, but has a way of doing it that he is not afraid to share thoughts or ideas.”
Dubón leads the team with a .340 batting average and has a hit in 12 consecutive games. He’s struck out twice in 53 at-bats and is thriving in part thanks to Alvarez’s simple, yet sorely needed, advice.
“We talk more about approach more than anything else. I haven’t changed my swing. I haven’t changed anything, it’s just a new mindset,” Dubón said. “Pick a pitch, go with a plan. If you’re going to die, die with a plan. Don’t try to change it. Don’t be afraid to go up there and fail with a plan. I’m going to fail, just fail with a plan.”
Signs of growth have been apparent over these first few weeks. Take April 10, when Dubón got ahead in the count 2-0 against Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Wil Crowe. Dubón had already supplied two hits and sensed a third during the sixth.
Crowe threw a cookie: a 92.5 mph four-seam fastball over the heart of home plate. Dubón stayed on top of the baseball and barreled it toward the opposite field. The line drive exited his bat at 100.9 mph and traveled 304 feet. Pittsburgh right fielder Andrew McCutchen robbed him of a hit with a terrific running catch.
“(Last season) I would have come and tried to swing out of my ass and try to hit a home run,” Dubón said. “It’s a 2-0 pitch and I know he’s going to come with a fastball. If I would have done that, I would have hit a groundball to short and been upset.”
Dubón does most of his damage on a line or on the ground. Too much of his contact last season came in the air. After the Astros acquired him from the San Francisco Giants, Dubón took 216 plate appearances and had a 30.5 percent fly ball rate. He hit .208 after arriving in Houston as a .260 lifetime hitter. Coaches saw a player overswinging and trying to extract power where none really exists. Dubón has 18 home runs in 272 major league games.
“He’s staying more inside the ball,” hitting coach Alex Cintrón said. “In the past, he was trying to hit balls out of the ballpark and drive the ball in the air. Now he understands that he can do that in the game, but if he stays in the middle or to the opposite field, he has a lot more chances to get on base and get hits.”
And as much as his new mindset, approach and mentor matter, there are tangible differences between the Dubón stepping to the plate this year and the player who underachieved in 2022 — starting with his body.
After last season, Dubón met with a group of Astros baseball operations officials. He averaged an 84.7 mph exit velocity on the 221 balls he struck in play. Staffers showed him the effect an extra mile per hour or two would have on his contact. Dubón scarfed down 5,000 calories a day in response and reported to spring training at 190 lbs. He had weighed 165 at the time San Francisco dealt him to Houston.
Dubón did not bulk up to suddenly become a home run threat. He is under no delusions that associating with Alvarez will make him one. Dubón once asked his teammate about which situations prompt him to try to hit a home run.
“He said ‘Never,’” Dubón said. “He’s a line drive hitter that backspins balls out (of) the ballpark. But this is a guy whose line drives are 116 (mph) and they go out. Pretty much that’s what I’m trying to do — either hit a line drive or hit something hard so it finds some grass.
“Home runs for me are going to be mistakes. It’s going to be something I’m going to catch in front and it’s going to go out. Pretty much just that — trying to stay out of the air a little bit more, but hit hard line drives.”
Dubón’s average exit velocity is up to 86.2 mph through three weeks of the season, but the direction and type of his contact are far more crucial to his success. With Cintrón’s help, Dubón has also altered his pregame routine in order to refine and maintain his approach. Dubón used to take endless swings during on-field batting practice, trying to either replicate a good feeling or work his way out of a bad one.
Now, he no longer hits on the field. Dubón takes swings off a high tee in the team’s underground batting cages to emphasize staying on top of the ball and hitting line drives. He’ll hit front toss and underhand toss, see some fastballs and sliders off a pitching machine and then be ready for the game.
Dubón’s fly ball rate has plummeted to 10.3 percent. He is hitting line drives 30.8 percent of the time — up from 20.4 percent last season — and almost 88 percent of his contact is either up the middle or to the opposite field.
“He’s letting the ball get deeper and trusting his ability to put the ball in play,” Cintrón said. “He knows he can let the ball get deeper and still has the ability to make contact, put it in play. His mentality has changed and he has a lot of confidence. When he does that, he’s able to hit.”
Added bench coach Espada: “That’s what happens when you don’t overswing. Now you start getting a better feel for the barrel to the ball, you start manipulating the barrel to the ball and, now, (manager Dusty Baker) can do stuff with him because he’s putting bat to ball.”
Altuve’s injury should have created a conundrum for Baker. Dubón’s emergence has all but solved it. Prospect David Hensley got a chance to prove himself at second, but struck out 12 times in his first 27 at-bats. Dubón always profiled as the better defender and his offensive breakout effectively cemented Baker’s decision at second base.
“I don’t think anyone thought Dubón was going to be the guy, he’d just be a utility player,” Cintrón said. “Now he’s turned into the guy. We knew defensively he was the guy out there, but we didn’t know he was going to do what he’s doing right now. He has established himself.”
Dubón’s initial success has not altered his broader view. He, like everyone else in the clubhouse, is itching for Altuve’s return. When it arrives, Dubón is ready to revert to a utility role.
It should afford more time to absorb any advice his teammates have. Dubón tries to be a sponge among the superstars seated around him. Dubón often tells Michael Brantley, “I want to grow up to be like you,” and credits Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford for helping him evolve defensively. A daily game of dominoes with one of the sport’s most dominant hitters has done the same at the plate.
“It’s something that I always take pride in, learning stuff,” Dubón said. “He’s the best hitter in the league. It would be dumb for me not to go over there and pick his brain, ask him for advice. I’m older than him, but he’s the best hitter in the league. He’s simplified the game a lot for me.”
(Illustration by John Bradford: The Athletic; Photos by Carmen Mandato, Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
