Scott Boras charmed the cargo shorts off the SABR crowd

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I won’t bore you with many details from my trip to the SABR convention in California last week–if for some insane reason you want the details, click here–but there was one interesting event actually related to baseball that seems particularly relevant to HBT.

Scott Boras (also known as “super agent Scott Boras”) gave the keynote speech prior to SABR’s annual business meeting Thursday morning, which I courageously attended at 8:30 a.m. Journalism!

Boras’ speech focused on the transition he made from college star and mediocre minor leaguer to one of the most powerful men in baseball and how he went from hitting .288 with a .738 OPS as an infielder at Single-A and Double-A to building a hugely successful agency that regularly makes use of sabermetrics and research.

We’ve certainly been critical of Boras, mostly for his hyperbolic hyping of clients and ability to manipulate certain media members, but he showed the type of charm and humor that makes it easy to understand how he’s able to talk star players into choosing him and general managers into signing his star players.

It also made me want to buy a used car.

At one point the lights in the ballroom dimmed and Boras didn’t skip a beat, quickly quipping that “SABR is a lot like the Dodgers, they don’t pay their bills either.”

He got big laughs throughout and even discussed the first time he realized as a young agent how much “managing the media” would help him, which would’ve gotten the biggest laugh of the entire 45-minute speech had Calcaterra been in attendance.

Alvarez’s bases-clearing double sends Astros past White Sox

Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
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HOUSTON – Yordan Alvarez hit a go-ahead three-run double in the seventh inning, and the Houston Astros rallied past the Chicago White Sox 6-3 on Friday night for their first win of the season.

Kyle Tucker hit a two-run homer in the sixth and made a spectacular catch at the wall in the seventh to rob Andrew Benintendi of extra bases and keep the World Series champion Astros within one run.

Eloy Jimenez hit two RBI doubles for the White Sox, both off Astros starter Cristian Javier.

Jimenez’s first double scored Tim Anderson in the first inning. In the sixth, Javier gave up three straight doubles to Benintendi, Jimenez and Joan Moncada to make it 3-0 and end his night.

White Sox reliever Kendall Graveman (0-1) loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh on two walks and a single. Jake Diekman came on and gave up Alvarez’s double to deep left-center, a drive that just eluded Luis Robert Jr. and bounced off the wall, clearing the bases.

Four Astros relievers each worked one scoreless inning. Seth Martinez (1-0) got the win and Rafael Montero handled the ninth for his first save.

Chicago starter Lance Lynn allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings.

ALL IN A DAY’S REST

White Sox INF Andrew Vaughn, who hit a go-ahead two-run double in Thursday’s season-opening win, did not play. Vaughn experienced lower back issues during spring training. Gavin Sheets started at first base.

HOMETOWN HIT

Astros outfielder Corey Yulks, a Houston-area native, singled in his first at-bat and finished 1-for-4 in his major league debut.

PUT A RING ON IT

Astros owner Jim Crane and his wife, Whitney, presented the team and staff with their 2022 World Series rings in a pregame ceremony.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: LHP Blake Taylor, who is on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow strain, began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sugar Land.

UP NEXT

The four-game season-opening series continues Saturday when Houston’s Jose Urquidy faces Chicago’s Lucas Giolito.