Myles Straw

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Myles James Noble Straw

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Biographical Information[edit]

Myles Straw was the starter in center field for the Houston Astros during the first half of the 2021 season, taking over for George Springer who had left as a free agent. He did well, hitting .262 in 98 games with strong defence, but with no power. In a surprise move, the Astros traded him to the Cleveland Indians at the trading deadline on July 30th, in return for middle reliever Phil Maton and minor leaguer Yainer Diaz. he did even better for Cleveland, hitting .285 in 60 games with an OPS+ of 104, but the Astros had replacements ready in rookies Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers, while they had few internal options to shore up their bullpen. In his absence, the Astros made it to the World Series, where he paid them a visit as a private citizen.

He was originally drafted by the Astros in the 12th round of the 2015 amateur draft, out of junior college, and reached the majors as a September call-up in 2018. He played two seasons as a back-up outfielder for Houston in 2019 and 2020, doing a fine job defensively but not hitting much. He appeared in the postseason in both 2018 and 2020, but did not have an at-bat either year, being limited to defensive and pinch-running duties both years. After being traded to Cleveland during the 2021 season, he hit .285 in 60 games to finished with a combined batting average of .271 with 4 homers and 48 RBIs in 158 games, for an OPS+ of 93. Cleveland liked what it had seen and signed him to a five-year contract extension after the season, worth $25 million. In 2022, with the re-named Guardians, he won a Gold Glove for his defensive play in center field but hit just .221 in 152 games, with a dreadful OBP of .291 and a slugging percentage of just .273. His OPS+ was 65. He played regularly in the postseason as well, but his bat did not warm up any, as he went 4 for 25 in 7 games.

Straw got another chance to play regularly as Cleveland's centerfielder in 2023, and it was basically a copy and paste of the previous season (although he did not win a Gold Glove). In 147 games, he hit .238, with a similar slight improvement in OBP and slugging percentage, but still well below major league standards as his OPS+ was 67. It was hard to justify keeping his name in the line-up every day, no matter how well he was playing defensively, and in 2024, he basically spent the entire season in AAA, getting just 4 at-bats spread over 7 games with Cleveland, With the Columbus Clippers, he hit .240 in 123 games with 3 homers and 47 RBIs, which amounted to replicating his major league stats of the previous two years at a lower level, with a slight improvement entirely attributable to the lower quality of opposition.

The Guardians seemed to be stuck with a bad contract for two more years when an unlikely savior came sweeping in in January of 2025. The Toronto Blue Jays had deluded themselves into thinking they were in running for signing free agent pitcher Roki Sasaki, and that the clincher was if they could increase their pool of international signing money to offer him a larger signing bonus (by being under 25, he could be offered a salary based on major league norms, so teams could not distinguish themselves on that front). So on January 17th, the Jays agreed to take on Straw's terrible contract in order to land an extra $2 million in international bonus money from Cleveland, giving up a player to be named later not likely to have any value in exchange. Alas, it seems that Sasaki's mind was already made up and that he had no intention of ever heading to the Great White North, as he wanted to join his idols Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Los Angeles. So the Blue Jays missed out on the player they really wanted and ended with a player they had little use for. To put a nice face on the fiasco, they claimed Straw was insurance in case CF Daulton Varsho was not ready at the start of the season after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery, but it's not as if they did not already have any internal candidates to fill that void, and those came with a potential to hit a lot better that Straw.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Mandy Bell: "Guardians send Straw to Blue Jays for player to be named or cash", mlb.com, January 17, 2025. [1]
  • Brian McTaggart: "Straw visits former Astros teammates at WS: Outfielder played 98 games for Houston in '21 before trade to Cleveland", mlb.com, October 30, 2021. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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