After a scrabbling start, the Astros have at least partially righted the ship in the last couple weeks and stand at 16-14 at the end of April. They are second in the AL West two games behind Seattle and fifth overall in the AL.
How do they look vs. the other teams in the American League?
- Offense
- .236 BA (8th) / .310 OBP (7th ) / .667 OPS (10th) / 117runs (9th) / HRs 25 (11th)
- Starting Pitching
- 3.61 ERA (5th) / 162 IP (5th) / 1.100 WHIP (2nd ) / 157 Ks (5th) / 48 walks (3rd best) / 20 HR (T-5th best)
- Relief Pitching
- 2.64 ERA (1st) / 9 saves (7th) / 105.2 IP (11th) / 1.06 WHIP (1st) / 9 HRs (T-4th best) / 118 Ks (6th) / 34 walks (2nd best)
So they are a below average offense with a starting staff in the top third in the AL and a bullpen near the very top.
Well, these awards are individual awards and mostly for April, but we label it Mapril in honor of the very early season games in March.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ pitchers in the month of Mapril.
| Name | Gm | W | L | Svs | IP | ERA | WHIP | Ks/9 IP | BAA | OBPA | OPSA | BAbip | IR/ IS |
| Framber Valdez | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 36 | 4.00 | 1.194 | 7.8 | .229 | .306 | .695 | .276 | N/A |
| Hunter Brown | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 1.22 | 0.838 | 9.7 | .189 | .231 | .507 | .267 | N/A |
| Ronel Blanco | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 28.1 | 5.08 | 1.306 | 8.3 | .221 | .308 | .712 | .240 | N/A |
| Spencer Arrighetti | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9.2 | 5.59 | 0.931 | 7.4 | .121 | .256 | .529 | .125 | N/A |
| Hayden Wesneski | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 3.86 | 1.000 | 8.4 | .229 | .261 | .709 | .243 | N/A |
| Ryan Gusto | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 3.00 | 1.148 | 9.7 | .243 | .291 | .660 | .310 | 0/0 |
| A.J. Blubaugh | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4.50 | 1.500 | 13.5 | .294 | .316 | .963 | .300 | N/A |
| Josh Hader | 13 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 15 | 1.80 | 0.800 | 12 | .170 | .211 | .512 | .242 | 0/0 |
| Bryan Abreu | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 2.08 | 1.462 | 12.5 | .212 | .317 | .586 | .324 | 5/2 |
| Tayler Scott | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 4.91 | 1.455 | 9 | .256 | .347 | .812 | .323 | 2/1 |
| Bryan King | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.2 | 1.84 | 0.886 | 9.8 | .170 | .237 | .483 | .216 | 5/0 |
| Steven Okert | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 0.00 | 0.333 | 10.2 | .104 | .120 | .349 | .129 | 8/4 |
| Bennett Sousa | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.1 | 0.00 | 0.947 | 11.4 | .190 | .250 | .488 | .286 | 3/1 |
| Logan Van Wey | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1.59 | 1.765 | 1.6 | .375 | .423 | .965 | .364 | 1/0 |
| Kaleb Ort | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9.00 | 1.000 | 4.5 | .143 | .250 | .821 | .000 | 0/0 |
| Forrest Whitley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0/0 |
| Luis Contreras | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9.00 | 1.889 | 10.0 | .297 | .395 | .936 | .360 | 6/1 |
| Rafael Montero | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4.50 | 1.250 | 11.3 | .208 | .406 | .615 | .294 | 4/0 |
Note – I added the IR (Inherited runners) / IS (Inherited runners who scored) stat for the relievers.
- Starting Pitcher of the Month – Hunter Brown – Surprise, the guy who leads the starting staff in Wins (4), Innings (37), ERA (1.22), WHIP (0.838) and most everything else that matters and is one of the best starting pitchers in all of baseball and is the Astros best pitcher through the end of April.
- Runner-up – (Tie) Ryan Gusto / Hayden Wesneski – Gusto’s overall numbers are better than Wesneski’s but if you pull out his 4 excellent relief appearances – they are much closer (Gusto 2-1, 3.79 as a starter). You have to wonder where this team would be without the combined 55 innings from the two of them and a combined 4-3 record. A.J. Blubaugh may have answered that question.
- Relief Pitcher of the Month – Steven Okert – If you thought before the season that the winner of the first month’s reliever award would be Okert….”Liar, liar, pants on fire.” The only real blemish is the fact he let four of eight inherited runners score. But man, look at that 0.00 ERA, 0.333 WHIP and that microscopic slash against .104 BA/ .120 OBP/.349 OPS in 13 appearances.
- Runner-up (Tie) – Josh Hader / Bryan King – Hader is 8-of-8 in save situations with a 1.80 ERA/ 0.800 WHIP and looking more dominant than anytime last season. King has been wonderful, leading the team in appearances (16) with a very good ERA (1.84) WHIP (.886) and slash against (.170 BA/ .237 OBP/ .483 .OPS) and very importantly has stranded all five runners he inherited.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ position players in the month of Mapril.
| Name | ABs | Runs | Dbls | HRs | RBIs | BBs | Ks | BA | OBP | OPS | BAbip |
| Isaac Paredes | 111 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 17 | 22 | .252 | .362 | .767 | .282 |
| Jose Altuve | 117 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 9 | 25 | .274 | .323 | .725 | .315 |
| Jeremy Pena | 110 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 20 | .282 | .355 | .791 | .310 |
| Christian Walker | 107 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 36 | .196 | .277 | .632 | .254 |
| Cam Smith | 75 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 25 | .213 | .306 | .679 | .277 |
| Yordan Alvarez | 96 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 16 | 20 | .219 | .316 | .670 | .231 |
| Yainer Diaz | 92 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 20 | .185 | .211 | .515 | .214 |
| Jake Meyers | 80 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 21 | .250 | .299 | .599 | .333 |
| Brendan Rodgers | 54 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 20 | .222 | .306 | .584 | .343 |
| Victor Caratini | 36 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | .250 | .357 | .746 | .296 |
| Zach Dezenzo | 40 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 14 | .250 | .286 | .586 | .383 |
| Mauricio Dubon | 43 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | .209 | .261 | .517 | .225 |
| Chas McCormick | 25 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | .280 | .379 | .699 | .467 |
- Positional Player of the Month – Jeremy Pena – Leading the team in BA (.282), OPS (.791), runs (17) and tied for the lead with 5 doubles and 4 home runs. And that speed on the base paths!
- Runner-up – Isaac Paredes – he noses out Jose Altuve for the honor as he leads the team with a .362 OBP (OK, ignoring Chas’ bigger number in only 25 ABs), T-2nd with 14 RBIs, 2nd with .767 OPS, T-1st with 4 HRs and 1st with 17 walks.
- Biggest Surprise (Positive) – Has to be Gusto. Just a very solid start to this young man’s MLB career.
- Runner-up – Have to say Okert coming off a 4.45 ERA in 2023 and a 5.09 ERA in 2024, he has been an under the radar stud for a bullpen that has been an overall success story.
- Honorable Mention – Cam Smith – Truthfully, I thought Cam might not be ready for the bigs, but he is putting up OK numbers at bat (If you don’t think so compare his .213 BA/.306 OBP/ .679 OPS slash to the two disappointments below). But beyond that he is bringing big time energy to the club, playing great defense at a totally new position and is giving Pena a run for his money for the player with the best engine on the base paths.
- Biggest Disappointment – Yainer Diaz – I don’t think anyone who saw Yainer come so close to batting .300 in 2024 (.299 BA) expected to be staring at a .185 BA (Yuck!) and .515 OPS (Double Yuck!!) at the end of April. He has been pulling it up in the last couple weeks, so perhaps this too will pass.
- Runner-up – Tie – Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker – Yordan is slashing a weakly .219 BA/.316 OBP/ .670 OPS and Walker is trailing him with a .196 BA/ .277 OBP/ .632 OPS, but both of these guys are much better than this.
- Honorable Mention – Tayler Scott – He has gone from a seventh inning guy in 2024 to a filler guy in 2025. Hopefully they will figure out why he is floundering a bit, and he will contribute better numbers the rest of the season.
Some Comments on Mapril
There are some interesting and puzzling things that happened to the Astros so far in 2025:
- If you are wondering why the Astros are struggling so badly offensively in 2025, look at those truly offensive numbers. This is a team effort as the best BA and OPS both belong to Pena at .282 BA/.791 OPS. Usually someone is up in the .350’s BA-wise and .900+ in OPS early in the season. But no one is bringing it so far this year.
- It is small sample size syndrome, but how the heck is Logan Van Wey holding down a 1.59 ERA while stranding the one runner he inherited, when the other teams are slashing .375 BA/ .423 OBP/ .965 OPS against him? Oh, and he is only striking out 1.6 men per 9 innings!
- On the other end of the spectrum how can Spencer Arrighetti have a magnificent slash against (.121 BA/.256 OBP/.529 OPS) paired with a crappy 5.59 ERA?
- You should feel happy for Bennett Sousa, who came to the Astros in 2023 after pitching poorly in short stints with the White Sox and Brewers. He was then almost perfect in a five-game stint with the Astros at the end of 2023. Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery (it makes me cringe to type it) ended his 2024 season before it started. But here he is at 30 years old back with the big club and posting a 0.00 ERA in 6 appearances.
- Which reminds us… so many seasons the Astros had no left handed reliever or only a token lefty in the bullpen. Tony Sipp? Cionel Perez? Blake Taylor? You get the picture. This season the Astros have a cornucopia of four lefty relievers – Hader, King, Okert and Sousa and they have all been very good to excellent so far in 2025.
- The league average for BAbip (Batting average for balls in play) is .284. This is often a sign of good luck (much higher than .284) or bad luck (much lower than .284) for a hitter. Unsurprisingly Yainer Diaz has a very low .214 BAbip, which should trend towards the norm and his regular BA with it. Chas McCormick has a good .280 BA in a small sample but has an unsustainable .467 BAbip. His BA will probably move and not upward.
As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any new ones you want to award?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
21 responses to “ ChipalattAwards for Mapril”
Nice piece on some guy named Brown…thought you might be interested…
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44950219/mlb-2025-hunter-brown-calendar-year-al-cy-young-houston-astros
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I just can’t fathom the remarkable team wide inability to do anything when the bases are loaded. We can’t even work a walk or score on a wild pitch or a fly ball or a squeeze or a ball hit to the right side.
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It’s only May, but I’d like to see guys like Meyers and Pena not swinging at the first strikes they see in the 9th inning when the tying run isn’t even in the on deck circle. Make the pitchers work. I know that’s not Espada’s philosophy, but I like winning games.
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Devin, when I coached high school kids, we taught this at THAT level. Why you don’t take more pitches in that situation is beyond me. Then again, I’m watching from afar now and Joe’s in the catbird seat (dugout). Make ’em throw a strike (or two)…
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The team is teasing us with the Charlie Brown syndrome… Lucy (Astros) holding the football for us (fans) to hit that ball so far and yet, the team pulls the football from us and we hit the deck.
I was wondering, with the Mrs., certainly the team does an eye exam to begin the season… don’t they???
Why is Taylor Scott on the hill in a close game?
What is going on with Framber??
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I did not think I could say this so early, but I would not mind if Joe got sent home. Too many guys playing bad baseball. Ill advised bunts, runners thrown out on the bases, letting a one run game get away in the 8th against a team with a terrible pen. And an inexplicable inability to score a run with the bases loaded. I won’t blame the manager for guys not hitting, but this entire group needs a fire lit underneath their collective butts.
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daveb, I’m wondering who’s the leader in the clubhouse? Altuve is probably one of the guys, but with Bergman gone, who’s calling guys out? Tucker was quiet, it sounds like Yordan is not that guy. JV is gone…
Where are the Biggios, Correas, Springers, Berkmans and even the Keuchels?
Someone has to step up and be the glue for a young team.
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Chip, the Mrs. and I were discussing that very subject during the game last night. Indeed, is there even a leader on the club at any level?
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Chip, I think it’s a valid point. I don’t know if there is a clubhouse leader on the Astros today. Certainly not Jose. While I think he’s loved by all, players and fans alike, he also historically makes the most mental errors on the club. Heck, Cam Smith understands base running better at the age of 22. And if Jose really wants to set an example, his chase rate is in the worst 3% of players in the game. Trying to bunt a ball up out of the strike zone after fouling the first one off? He took himself out of an at bat last night with two guys on. And we know he has the ability not to chase. He’s shown it over his career. An on field leader sets an example of excellence, intellect for the game and discipline, and I’m not just talking about the stat department.
But the fish stinks from the head down. Maybe we need a guy somewhat more dynamic than Joe Espada. Maybe Joe is too nice a guy. And I know that Joe is trying hard to get guys like Taylor Scott straightened out, but I just can’t accept it when a pitcher is allowed to give up a hit and three walks in one run contest against a team with a bad bullpen and put the game out of reach.
One night in the post game comments, I’d like to hear Joe say that we all had a bad night, including me. We need to do better. And that’s on me. I’d find that refreshing.
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Unfortunately my comment about not being able to beat the last place team came true last night. I agree that these guys need a collective butt kicking.
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Framber is a solid 4th or 5th option as a starting pitcher. Jose makes way too many middle school errors on the bases. Yordan, too often and so far, can’t get the ball out of the infield with runners in scoring position (and as I type this Yordan is scratched because of “inflammation” in the hand). Christian Walker mostly looks like a repeat of Jose Abreu. Taylor Scott should only pitch when the game isn’t in doubt. As others noted earlier in the thread, there appears to be no leader in the clubhouse. Espada doesn’t appear to correct obvious mistakes.
On the bright side, Hunter Brown is as good as any pitcher in the game. Jeremy Pena is playing well. Issac Paredes is off to a good start. When he comes up to bat, I expect a good quality at-bat. Our closer looks like he’s worth the money he’s being paid. Gusto and Wesneski have been as effective as we could have hoped for.
We are an average team right now. Can we win this division? Yes because it’s not exactly murderers’ row but we won’t stay in the playoffs much if any longer than last year at this rate.
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Who’s going to shoulder the responsibility for this offensive ineptitude thus far? Outhitting opposing teams and leaving so many RISP stranded. What role does Snitker and Cintron play in all this with over half the lineup in a collective funk? Pena has impressed me with his approach at the plate and is thriving in those efforts. I’ve actually see him trying to improve. Wish some of his mates would try to replicate the things he is doing. Can Meyers stay within himself and contribute a better part of the season? Be nice, huh?
Wish Altuve would stop sabotaging himself at the plate. How bad are Alvarez’s hands? His struggles did not begin this season, but has carried over from last. Diaz seems on the uptick. A couple more guys heat up and we might be on to something offensively.
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I think we enjoy today and see how things go tomorrow.
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An example of Jose Altuve not being the most savvy guy on the team: Lance throws 30 something pitches in the 2nd inning and Jose promptly bounces out on a first pitch to start the next inning. Altuve is now swinging at just about 50% of his first pitches on the season. It’s not working. Set an example Jose. Keep your head in the game.
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Maybe time to move Jose further down in the line up like 7 or 8th. LMJ not bad but threw way too many pitches. Gusto with 2 walks and two hits and Okert with one walk and two hits just not on their game today. 1 for 7 with RISP. Yes, we’ve seen this movie before but it’s not over yet so maybe……?
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On second thought, it is.
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Well my friends, the somewhat expected happened. Our team LOST TWO out of three to the poor White Sox. Remember we were expecting a sweep. What a joke of a team this is at this moment. There are only three people on the team that I see are playing with intensity and pizzaz. Brown, Hader, and Paredes. The others cannot pitch well, and others cannot field, hit, or throw, or show any baseball acumen.
As Dave said above, McCullers throws near 30 pitches and Altuve comes up tp leadoff the following inning and promptly swings and hits the first pitch he sees. Don’t get me started on the others who are just as guilty. All of this falls on Espada’s back. I see no life in the team beyond who I mentioned as here to play.
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The only thing worse than the Astros was the Rockets. Nightmare. Thank goodness for Scottie Scheffler!
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You know, maybe this is piling on, but we had guy badly picked off of second yesterday, immediately followed by a base hit that would have scored him.
And then we had pitch out called on a base stealer who ended up stealing the base anyway, immediately followed by a base hit that scored him.
When guys drop pop ups and pitchers don’t execute, it’s one thing. But when you make multiple mental errors, they are what ultimately lose baseball games. Mental errors are not excusable.
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You know, maybe this is piling on, but we had guy badly picked off of second yesterday, immediately followed by a base hit that would have scored him.
And then we had pitch out called on a base stealer who ended up stealing the base anyway, immediately followed by a base hit that scored him.
When guys drop pop ups and pitchers don’t execute, it’s one thing. But when you make multiple mental errors, they are what ultimately lose baseball games. Mental errors are not excusable.
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Thoughts
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