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Astros 2025: A quick view for the designated hitter position

Coming from the National League, the Astros’ first few seasons in the AL featured poor performance at the designated hitter position. For the first couple of seasons (2013 and 2014), this did not make much difference for teams that were struggling at a lot of positions. However, as the team improved, this was a bit embarrassing.

This all changed when Yordan Alvarez joined the team in 2019. Even though he normally hit better when he was playing in the field, his numbers as a DH outshone anything the Astros had previously. He does not always play the DH, though the indication is that the Astros would prefer to see him play less in left field this coming season.

Let’s look at the DH position last season and peer into the future.

2024 By the Numbers

Here are the designated hitter stats for all those who were DH in 2024 (stats are combined):

  • .280 BA (1st in the AL)
  • .356 OBP (1st)
  • .845 OPS (2nd)
  • 34 doubles (T-3rd)
  • 30 HRs (T-3rd)
  • 73 RBIs (T-10th)

The number that stands out is the Astros coming in tenth in RBIs for those players at the DH spot. Now, not all of that is Yordan’s fault, as he only played 94 games at DH, but a chunk of it is. Alvarez was much healthier in 2024 than 2023, had 142 more ABs overall, and raised his batting average from .293 to .308 BA. However, in those additional 142 ABs, his RBI total dropped from 97 to 86. An interesting comparative stat is that as a DH he had 46 RBIs in 353 ABs (about .13 RBIs/AB) while as a left fielder he had 40 RBIs in only 199 ABs (about .20 RBIs/AB). That is a vast difference in production.

Along with Yordan playing 94 games at DH – the other main contributor was Yainer Diaz with 37 games.  Let’s take a comparison of each at DH and at LF for Yordan and C/1B for Diaz.

Stat Yordan   DH Yordan   LF Yainer DH Yainer C/1B
AB 353 199 141 443
BA .300 .322 .262 .312
OBP .393 .391 .296 .335
OPS .962 .954 .715 .784
Runs 55 33 21 49
Doubles 25 9 7 22
HRs 22 13 5 11
RBIs 46 40 20 64

It is interesting that Yordan, who has multiple years of experience at DH has improved to where he has similar numbers between DH and LF, while Diaz has typical young player numbers – much better when he is playing in the field than when he is sitting and waiting in the dubout.

Major League Possibilities

Besides Alvarez and Diaz, 12 other players threw their hat in the ring for a game or more at DH in 2024, including five who are gone with the wind. Jon Singleton had the most (12 games) and frankly, he was terrible (.194 BA/.293 OBP/ .487 OPS). The team should consider giving some of those ABs to 35 y.o. Jose Altuve who thrived (.316 BA/ .381 OBP/ .855 OPS) in his 5 games at DH and could possibly use some of those partial days off.

Top Prospects

Let’s face it, the Yordan Alvarez situation as a young DH is unusual. You had a player with a golden bat, who also had physical problems (knees/hands) and who you did not want to subject to too much exposure in the field. There is no obvious person among the top prospects who matches that description at this point.

2024 AAA – For some reason, there is no easy way to split out how players hit at different positions in the minors – in fact the only way I found to figure out who did most of the DHing was to take their total games and subtract out how many games they showed in the field at various positions. The folks who appeared the most at DH at Sugar Land in 2024 were Cooper Hummel (21 games), Trey Cabbage (18 games) and Shay Whitcomb (12 games).

All three players had small cups of coffee with the big club in 2024. Whitcomb would seem to at least have some future with the Astros but probably not at DH, Cabbage was waived in November and Hummel would seem to be around as a potential call-up for a week here or there.

2024 AA

Looking at the Hooks….

A couple players seemed to have a chunk of the games at DH – Colin Price and Zach Cole. No telling whether these guys will ever make it to the majors much less as a DH.

The bottom line -the Astros have one of the better options as a designated hitter in Yordan Alvarez. For some reason his overall numbers were quite good, while his RBIs were down in 2024. Whether that is just a fluke or a reflection of hitting often in the two spot with fewer people on base or based on how they pitched to him in potential run scoring situations – it is an area to watch for improvement in 2025.

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26 responses to “Astros 2025: A quick view for the designated hitter position”

  1. Yanier was terrible as a DH in 2023. He actually improved quite a bit in 2024. So I’d give him some partial rest days in the role in 2025. But I’d sure like to see Jose get more days hitting only, especially against teams that have a batch of lefty hitters in the line up. Dubon and Walker will make us much better defensively on the right side of the infield when both playing at the same time. I’d like to see Yordan get at least 100 games at DH though. When you add up Alvarez-Altuve-Diaz as our potential three main guys taking on the DH role, that’s pretty solid.

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  2. The biggest difference between 2023 and 2024 is that Kyle Tucker went from playing 157 games to only playing 78. The next biggest difference is that Chas went from a .842 OPS to a .576 OPS. Additionally, Alvarez hit the ball on the ground more with lesser results. His pop-up/fly-ball percentage went up slightly while his line drive percentage also dropped. That lines up with his barrel% dropping from 18% to 14.5%. He also took more walks with RISP than he did in 2023. I think pitchers will be trying to avoid his bat early in the season and provide some opportunities for Diaz, Walker, or Paredes. I also think Espada is going to give us Pena hitting second behind Altuve and Alvarez is going to have a lot of first innings with no men on and two outs.

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    • Seems the recovery rate from TJ surgery is 80% to 90% today, with 30% of pitchers needing a second surgery at some point.

      I suppose that makes Luis Garcia’s odds pretty good going forward.

      Sometimes I forget that Garcia has pretty good stats. I’d sure take that 1.159 WHIP. He’d really deepen the rotation options.

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    • Seems the recovery rate from TJ surgery is 80% to 90% today, with 30% of pitchers needing a second surgery at some point.

      I suppose that makes Luis Garcia’s odds pretty good going forward.

      Sometimes I forget that Garcia has pretty good stats. I’d sure take that 1.159 WHIP. He’d really deepen the rotation options.

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  4. If what we have now plays up to their potential I like our chances to get to the playoffs. We could still use that big LH bat for the outfield though. It looks like we’re not going to deal Framber and nobody wants Pressley so we’ll have to deal with that.

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    • Z – I would say that nobody wants Pressly at $14 million for 1 season. I think if you paid down $5 million you would get interest.

      But you would probably need someone who is looking past some obvious problems that popped up in 2024. His ERA was quite solid in 2024 (3.49) but that much higher WHIP (1.341) and that slash against (.264 BA/.322 OBP/ .718 OPS) is up a lot over his last few seasons. You would need someone who thinks his 2024 was an anomaly and not a sign of aging.

      In other words I would not trade for him, but someone else might.

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      • But if I am Dana Brown I would emphasize to potential trade partners that after a poor start – Pressly’s numbers for the last 4 months of the season were a 2.55 ERA and a 1.189 WHIP which are both good numbers.

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      • I’d much rather keep Pressly than move him in order to sign Verdugo. If you want to make Pressly more effective there are a couple keys. First, keep him healthy. That probably means not letting Espada pitch him as often. Second, he needs to locate his fastball. That may require taking a little bit off. That’s ok though as it’s not his out pitch. What he can’t afford is hitters getting a free ball in the count because he can’t or won’t throw a strike with it.

        Why do people want to sell Jake but buy Verdugo? Poor offense and poor defense for $8-9M a year? What?

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      • Let’s get you on the payroll as an assistant to Jim Crane as I think it would be one hell of an improvement over the “Tres Amigos”.

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      • Devin, moving Presley is not my idea, but I think it might be a way to help improve the outfield, which right now is a real question mark. Maybe the Astros would like to use Presley’s 14 million in a different way. He has declined. That’s fair to say. And I would not rush to get rid of Jake either, as I’ve stated he would be a valuable part of the outfield against left-handed pitching, an excellent late inning defensive replacement and a fast pitch runner option. Conversely, Verdugo has historically been pretty good against right-handed pitchers with a .781 lifetime OPS against them. At 28, I think he’ll bounce back from his crappy year in New York. And his outfield metrics are actually pretty good too, for any of the guys available in his price range.

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  7. The Astros have the best DH in the American League. They also have the best Left Fielder in the American League. Unfortunately, they are the same guy. The Astros need to find a guy to add to the lineup that fills one of those spots 50% of the time and the other spot the other 50% of the time to go with Yordan and he would preferably be a LH hitter to balance the lineup.

    I guess everyone is glad I am not the GM because Framber would get traded for a LH hitting OF/DH and another young starting pitcher and a young reliever. I would make sure that move would get us under the luxury tax line. and I would try to move Pressly before the deadline when some team would need him at a lower price point.

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  8. Six inches of snow here today. It is beautiful for us old folks to look at and beautiful to the kids who didn’t have to go to school except to go take care of their FFA animals.

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  9. Kyle Tucker is going back to Arbitration. Cubs wanted to pay him 15, he wants 17.5. What’s 2.5 million when you’re going to have to pay 300 to 400 if you want to keep him long term?

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    • The $2.5 million gap reminds me – heading into the 2023 season, they had a $2.5 million gap in arb numbers – $7.5 vs $5 million and the club won and Tucker had to take the $5 million. That was obviously a much bigger deal as that was a bigger chunk of his total salary.

      Heading into 2024 they settled on $12 million without going to arbitration.

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    • It’s kind of absurd we’re talking about Tucker being in line for a $300-400M contract when Framber Valdez is going to take home more this season without even going to arbitration. There are only two or three teams that can hand out such a contract without completely blowing their budget. I’m not second guessing the trade. I hope he has a great year in Chicago and beats the Cardinals frequently. I also hope the Astros get solid contributions from two of the three guys acquired and the third gets to spend the entirety developing in the minors. Part of me wonders if Tucker could have a similar experience next winter to what Bregman is having now though.

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      • Cubs fans overwhelmingly seem to think their organization made a real mistake by not avoiding Arbitration with Tucker. A few even seem to think the Cubs have no intention of signing Tucker for what it will take.

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      • I should have specified that some of their fans think the Cubs have no intention of signing Tucker long term for what it will take.

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  10. It is an interesting comparison, Devin. I guess if you consider that the last 4 seasons (2021-2024) have been a wash – both players playing at a pretty high level for basically full seasons (Tucker missed more time in 2024 than Framber did in 2021 and 2024) – the difference between them is that Framber did more in 2018-2020 – 23 starts and 22 relief appearances in that time are basically a full season, while Tucker only had 360 ABs – a bit more than half a season. That is why Framber may be a nudge ahead in 2025 salary – plus Tucker losing the 2023 arb case.

    The reason Tucker will make a lot more in free agency next off season is because he will be 29 y.o. – 3 years younger than Framber, plus they just don’t give pitchers the longer contracts they give position players.

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