Players who had 30 steals in a season with the Astros | Immaculate Grid Answers for Grid 121 | August 1, 2023

Are you hooked on Immaculate Grid, the daily trivia game from Baseball Reference? We sure are! We’ll warn you right now—this blog post contains spoilers. But if you’re looking for a little help with today’s grid (or you already filled it out and want to know who else qualified) read on.

To fill out today’s grid, you need to choose players who had 30 steals in a season with the Astros. There were 23 players with 30 steals for Houston. Here are some examples:

Jose Altuve

Jose Altuve stands only 5′ 6″, making him one of the shortest players in the 21st century. He was signed by scout Wolfgang Ramos for the Houston Astros in 2006 and began his pro career with the VSL Astros the next summer.

He played in the Futures Game, then reached the majors with Houston in 2011. He was called up on July 20th, replacing Jeff Keppinger, who had been traded to the San Francisco Giants the previous day. In his first game that same day, he was Houston’s starting second baseman against the Washington Nationals and went 1 for 5. On August 20th, he hit the first inside-the-park home run for the Astros since Adam Everett in 2003 when he led off the 1st inning against the Giants with a drive to deep left-center that allowed him to round the bases without even having to slide. It was his first major league homer, coming off Madison Bumgarner, and set his team off to a 7-5 win over the defending World Champions. For his rookie year, he hit .276/.297/.357 in 57 games.

Michael Bourn

Michael Bourn was an All-Star center fielder known for his exceptional speed and defensive prowess.

Willy Taveras

Willy Taveras was signed by scout Winston Llenas for the Cleveland Indians in May 1999. He made his pro debut for the DSL Indians that summer.

Taveras was one of the best batters for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, going 2 for 7 with 6 walks to lead the team in OBP. He was thrown out trying to steal in his lone attempt, gunned down by Kenley Jansen at third base in the 9th inning of a 3-2 loss to the Dutch national team. He was later thrown out at home by Concepción Rodríguez in a win over Panama. Surprisingly, Taveras did not score in 3 games despite his numerous times on base.

His cousin Leody Taveras is a minor league outfielder.

Jeff Bagwell

Jeff Bagwell played fifteen seasons with the Houston Astros and, along with Craig Biggio, was the face of the club for many years.

Bagwell was born and grew up in Boston idolizing Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski. Selected by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round of the 1989 amateur draft, he was named the Double A Eastern League’s MVP in 1990, his first full season of professional baseball. He led the league with 160 hits and 220 total bases, tying for the lead with Mike Twardoski with 24 doubles and finishing second to Luis Mercedes (.334) with a .333 batting average. He seemed well on his way to following in Yaz’s footsteps to Fenway Park. But a little over a year after signing with the BoSox, Bagwell became part of one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history. On August 30th, he was traded to the Houston Astros for journeyman relief pitcher Larry Andersen. Andersen had a 1.23 ERA for the Sox that season, helping the team to a division title, then left as a free agent. The Astros ultimately got the better of the deal.

Craig Biggio

Craig Biggio retired at the end of the 2007 season with the longest term of service with the same club in Major League Baseball. He had played with the Houston Astros since 1988, reaching the bigs a little over one year after being the team’s first round pick, beginning as a catcher, but switched to second base during the 1992 season. He remains the only player in baseball history to be named to an All-Star Game as both a catcher and a second baseman. He would also play two seasons as the team’s center fielder. In his first All-Star Game, in 1991, he became the first catcher to have interference called against him when Paul Molitor’s bat hit his glove mid-swing. At the time of his retirement, he had played 20 seasons with the same team.

All 23 Players

You can see all 23 players with 30 steals for Houston on Stathead. Good luck with your grid!

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