Billy Wagner makes rare trip back to Houston to throw out Astros' first pitch – Chron, Chron.com

ByMatt Young

Published                     8: 30 Pm CDT, Saturday, October 5, 2019         

Billy Wagner wasn’t afraid to admit that he felt like a stranger stepping into Minute Maid Park on Saturday for the first time since he roamed the visitor’s bullpen as a closer for the Atlanta Braves in 2010.

Nine years away from the game didn’t stop the 48 – year-old former Astros closer from delivering a strike to current closer Roberto Osuna for the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 of the Astros-Rays American League Division Series.

“I don’t recognize very much; it’s grown up,” Wagner said minutes before he stepped onto the field for the first pitch. “I was in the hotel since noon. I was really afraid to go out because I didn’t know where I was at. I pretty much just got a workout in, ate and stayed in my room.”

When he finally got to the ballpark, Wagner was given an orange Astros jersey with his familiar 13 on the back. “It’s a little tight,” he joked. The color scheme was vastly different from the brick red he wore when he last pitched in a Astros uniform in 2003 or when he notched a franchise-record 225 saves in his nine seasons in Houston.

“The last time I wore this color, I was in the minor leagues and I was wearing Ken Caminiti’s pants, so … everything’s changed since I left,” Wagner said.

Included in the changes is what he calls the “electricity” in the game that includes bigger players, more home runs and pitchers with higher velocities.

“I’m pretty sure I couldn’t play in this day and age,” said Wagner, who was one of just a handful of pitchers who could reach 100 mph in the 1990 s and 2000 s. “I don’t think I could make a team today.”                                                                

Wagner is still close to the game as a high school head coach at The Miller School in Albemarle County, Va., Where he won state championships in 2017 and 2018. He says his kids – including Will, who is a sophomore infielder at Liberty University – know more about the current Astros than he does.

“It’s a different organization, completely different,” Wagner said. “Ownership’s different. The last time I really sat down and talked to (Astros team president) Reid Ryan, he was in Round Rock and I was rehabbing … Everything has jumped, and it’s hard not to be excited for these guys.”