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Astros Top 10 Returning Players

Today, we perform a challenging self-assignment on the blog. We attempt to rank the top 10 Astros returning for the Astros in 2025. Note that due to the current situation, this list does not include Alex Bregman or Yusei Kikuchi. The first is certainly a top-10 player on the team in 2024, and the second is possibly a top-10 player.

In reverse order is one man’s opinion on the Astros Top 10 returning players.

10) Josh Hader – Hader’s numbers in save situations only would have put him around the Top 5 or 6 for the team, as he was excellent in those situations with 34 saves in 38 opportunities. But….his overall numbers, especially his 3.80 ERA were not elite due to his failure in non-save situations. Either he gets better in those situations, or they use him differently in 2025 – something has to give.

9) Tayler Scott – Obviously, Scott was not used in quite the number of high leveraged spots that Hader was, but he was very good over the whole year – 7-3, 2.23 ERA. And he was critical in a season when the Astros were replacing Hector Neris, Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek and Kendall Graveman.

8) Bryan Abreu – Abreu was the best reliever of the big 3 of Ryan Pressly, Hader and himself at 3-3, 1 save, 3.10 ERA. He was not as good as in 2022 and 2023, but he was still very effective with the most appearances on the team (second in the AL), while being used almost exclusively in high leverage situations.

7) Hunter Brown – If Brown had pitched the whole season as he did the last 80% of it, he could easily be even with Framber Valdez and Ronel Blanco towards the top of the list. His 11-9 record with a 3.49 ERA was critical for a team reeling from having a whole rotation on the IL.

6) Yainer Diaz –  .299 BA and 84 RBIs are numbers that are never associated with Astro catchers. If he ever gets a little more selective, takes walks and forces the pitchers to come to him – he could be even more effective, but right now he has done all we could expect.

5) Jose Altuve – This feels like almost baseball blasphemy to have Altuve at 5th in a season where he was healthy and put up a .295 BA/ .350 OBP/ .790 OPS slash with 94 runs score and 65 RBIs. But that is where it feels like he should be after a good season, but not one of his best.

3b) Ronel Blanco – Without Blanco’s efforts, especially the first couple months of the season when the team was struggling, the Astros rotation might have collapsed.  His13-6, 2.80 ERA in his first full MLB season as a starter, his no-hitter in his first start of 2024 and his steady excellence puts him in a tie with Framber Valdez for this 3rd spot in the top 10.

3a) Framber Valdez – A few times, we thought that Framber might fall back on his wandering ways of 2023, but he put up a strong effort in 2024 with 15-7, 2.91 and helped lead the Astros to the playoffs.

2) Kyle Tucker – Yes, I know he missed 3 months of the season with his broken shinbone. But did you realize, that even with the missed time, Tucker put up a 4.7 WAR which was the second highest on the club. He was headed for a terrific 8 or so WAR season when that foul ball sidelined him. He would have been #1 on this list.

1) Yordan Alvarez – Yordan had a terrific .309 BA/ .392 OBP/ .959 OPS slash in 2024. Would it have been better with Tucker behind him or in front of him in the lineup for the months he missed this season? Probably. It would be awfully nice to have the two of them together for most of a full season.

Your turn…

  • What do you think it will look like in 2025?
    • What is your top 10 for the returning Astros?
    • Would you slide anyone into the Top 10 or anyone out?
    • What do you think it will look like in 2025?
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    20 responses to “Astros Top 10 Returning Players”

    1. I said a few weeks ago that the Astros would not tender Urquidy. I also think Montero will come to camp with a chance to win a job back. Why not? They are going to have to pay him anyway.

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    2. I don’t have a problem with your 10 choices. I am hoping that Hader does a better job at closing big games and doing a better job of not getting himself in trouble. I also hope that Espada and his team do a better job of using him where he belongs and scoring some runs late in games to protect his innings.

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    4. One thing that I’d change is using Hader in the 9th in a tie game. It seemed that we used him, we didn’t score and on to the 10th where the opposing team scores and wins because our next guy up can’t hold the line or close the deal. Some may say different but if Hader is our closer then let him close.

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      • Z, I think Espada got criticized more than he deserved overall, but he kept insisting on using Hader in situations that did not work out. I think it was his biggest fail throughout the season. Stubborn manager.

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      • Common baseball wisdom to use your closer in the 9th of a tied game at home, you are protecting the lead and have the last at bat. The number of times he did on the road though was perplexing. We still have to get a lead in the 10th, and someone has to save that lead in the 10th.

        Maybe his mindset was that Hader would go 2 innings. Or maybe, he, like us, didn’t trust Pressly or anyone else he had available. Or maybe it’s just rookie manager panic.

        Hader, like most pitchers, is best when his usage matches his skillset. There were a lot of times he was out there hitting 95 instead of 98, and part of me wonders if the contract didn’t sort of squelch those competitive juices a little. Maybe there is a little of all of it – manager usage, the occasional 40-50 pitch appearance, and a little competitive edge missing that contributed. Or maybe it’s just all on Espada. Probably even Josh Hader doesn’t really know.

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      • What I wonder is whether Espada decided that was the best strategic usage of Hader or if he had done something like started warming him up and didn’t want to sit him down to potentially warm up again later. Regardless, I want the FO to give him clear directions on when not to pitch Hader and Pressly. I also want them to decide on another guy who will take some innings from Abreu. If we drop a couple games because someone couldn’t hold the lead it’s easier to stomach than dropping a couple games late in the season or postseason because your top relievers are burned out.

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    5. Ortega and Urquidy were the duh of course moments. I was a little surprised by Penn Murfee. Not as much on Seth Martinez and Trey Cabbage, though personally I think Cabbage is probably a better fit for this franchise as a depth piece than Taylor Trammell. Cabbage didn’t have any options left, I haven’t checked but I’m guessing Trammell doesn’t either.

      Urquidy will be interesting. I can’t see a world where his agent lets him accept the assignment. Someone is going to give him a 2 year league minimum salary in hopes of getting a productive 2026 from him at league minimum. Could that be a move the Astros make? I would do it if I were the Astros and I could convince the agent and Urquidy to wait until ST to sign it so I could keep him off roster until opening day, where he goes straight to the 60 day. It seems very likely though that it will be someone else that does this and not the Astros.

      The Astros like Bennett Sousa more than I do.

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    6. I’ve been reading in some of the less than reliable outlets that Chas might be trade bait. Why though? Seems to me he’s got more upside than most of our other outfield options. I just hope he’s spending the winter in a gym.

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    7. I’m not clear – are we ranking their 2024 contributions or what we expect them to do in 2025? Here are my quibbles. Tayler Scott had a career year at age 32. Is he legit or the new Montero? As much as I like to warn that relievers are highly volatile, Hader is probably a higher value than ranked on the list. In regards to Abreu, the stats don’t match my perception. He only had two really bad games. He only allowed 8 inherited runners to score on the season while Hader allowed 7 in fewer innings. Pressly, fwiw, only allowed one.

      I have concerns with Brown and Blanco after seeing the jump in workload, but if they throw the ball like they did in 2024 they should see a lot of success. I was highly impressed with both throughout the course of the year.

      My final concern has to do with Diaz and Altuve’s defense. I’ll throw Pena in there too. Diaz and Pena can be great at times. Diaz has mental lapses where we see multiple catcher’s interreferences or he decides not to attempt to block a breaking pitch in the dirt allowing the tying run in the eighth inning of a playoff game to score. The problem is we can’t play him at DH because of Altuve and Alvarez. He could play 1B if he learned to do it, but he has the ability to be a really good defensive catcher if he wanted to be. I don’t know that it’s time to move him yet. Altuve, well, we probably hid a lot of his deficiencies with the exaggerated shifts. He’s going to have to be as solid as Cal Ripken on the balls he does reach to make up for the ones he doesn’t.

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      • I haven’t looked at the stats but I am guessing Abreu also faced more ABs with inherited runners than Hader by far.

        I’ve often said Bryan Abreu is the most important pitcher on this staff, and probably the best pitcher on this staff. We often talk about high leverage spots for hitters, we rarely talk about them for the pitchers, or at least not often enough. Prior to 2024 Abreu was the guy that gave an offense a chance to win late by keeping things where he inherited them. Despite some of the 2024 wear down, I still think all of those things are true, while he isn’t quit the same pitcher, he is still the best one on this staff.

        Dana Brown isn’t going to read this, Espada as well, so I don’t get a vote in what the Astros are going to do. But I would move Yainer to 1B, now. Caratini, if not more skilled, is more experienced. And you can go find a defensive minded catcher, he just needs to hit better than the .165 you would get from a Maldy type. If the Astros are willing to invest, someone like Sanchez would fit.

        My goal is to simplify Yainer’s life. Instead of spending the majority of his pre-game figuring out the opposing team’s lineups, their weaknesses, how he can get his guy on the mound to attack those weaknesses, he can focus on not getting exploited by the opposing pitcher. You can solve 1B for a generation with a write em and forget em guy. And you can solve your 1B dilemma with a guy still on a minimum salary through Jose Abreu’s contract. I’m really interested in what Yainer can become if he is allowed to focus on hitting as his priority, and isn’t worn down in August from catching 80-90 games to that point. It’s also, arguably, the most injury prone position besides pitching. But the Astros don’t seem to be leaning in that direction.

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        • You’re correct on Abreu (28 IR, 8 IRS) and Hader (11 IR, 7 IRS). 3 of Haders came when he entered with the bases loaded and gave up a GS to Minnesota, but still managed to earn a save. 3 came in a game against the Angels where Caleb Ferguson loaded the bases with no outs and a 6-1 lead. We won 6-4 and Hader received a save. The lone other was probably memorable as it came late in the year against SD. He relieved Pressly with 2 outs and a runner on third and a one run lead in the eighth and promptly threw a wild pitch allowing them to score. The following half inning Altuve was ejected for taking off his shoe. I only know those because I looked it up. If you’re scoring at home, we did not lose a single game where Hader allowed an IR to score.

          Abreu was called on to clean up other pitcher’s messes far more often. We only lost 2 of the games where Abreu allowed an IR to score. That’s pretty fantastic pitching by him.

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    8. Let’s see

      • Devin I am ranking them on what they did in 2024 – not on what I expect in 2025 – so no regression (Scott? Blanco?) is figured into this.
      • I agree that Abreu is their best reliever. I have a hard time balancing out how to rank relievers vs. starters, and I ranked the relievers lower, but…. I can see that when a guy is used in 78 games and high leverage most of the time and coming in with guys on base, he maybe should be ahead of the guys who pitch 170 innings in 31 games.
      • I struggle with whether to make the jump on Diaz to 1B yet. He brings a lot of value at a normally non-offensive position (catcher). On the other hand one of the Astros Hall of Famers went through this moving from catcher to second base to save his body and to allow him to become more of an offensive weapon.
      • It will be interesting to see if Urquidy does get picked up on one of those 2 year deals where the team does not expect any return in the first year. A team has to have the spot available.
      • I personally will miss Seth Martinez. He could be up and down at times but overall gave the Astros a lot of decent innings when they needed it.

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      • Well, that is completely surprising (to no one).

        Do you get a discount signing a guy with a bum elbow or does his agent charge you more because “he is better than ever”?

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    12. Word is the Astros are talking to JV’s agent about a deal.

      Word is that Bregman is the Astros #1 priority signing.

      Those two things happening would fill two of the Astros’ needs, but would also allow the team to shop Valdez and fill another need, either at 1B or in the OF.

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      • The only reason I mention these things is because I looked at Dan’s Top Ten list of players, and when 3 of the top 10 players on your team are in your bullpen, you are in big trouble.

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