Astros manager A.J. Hinch said he’s trying to get Evan Gattis behind the plate, but the game situations have yet to yield the right spot.Gattis, who was activated from the disabled list April 11 after recovering from offseason sports hernia surgery, has yet to catch for the Astros after doing so almost exclusively for the Braves in 2014. His seven starts this year are all at designated hitter.”I’m trying,” Hinch said. “Every game, I’m trying. If we can jump out to a lead where I can give him a soft landing.”He may not need the soft landing. He might not get it, but I just want his first couple innings to be something less than Ken Giles with the bases loaded and a 3-2 slider in the dirt.Gattis didn’t catch in 2015 as the Astros wanted his bat in the lineup. He had 566 at-bats last year and led the team in home runs and RBIs.He’s put his catcher’s gear on multiple times late in games, only to not get in mainly due to game situations.”These are real-time situations that could come up so I’m trying to gently ease him back into it, but pretty soon, I’m just going to force him in there,” Hinch said.Odds and ends
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