Okay, there is really no thing as a one third pole, but since I am writing this post, I get to go outside the box with my subjects. But this is not that far outside the box, so let’s talk.
Who are the Astros Top Ten performers to this point in the season?
Tie 10. Steven Okert / Bryan King – It could be argued that Okert’s numbers are superior to King’s – especially that 1.75 ERA vs. 3.38 ERA. But until his very last appearance (allowing 5 runs in a third of an inning), King had better numbers in more appearances. So, I’m not going to overly punish him for being human. The two of them have been very good and have been used in more and more leveraged situations. Okert – 22 games – 1-1 record with 1 save and 2 holds. King – 3-1 record with 11 holds. I’m not sure where the team would be without these two stepping up.
9. Victor Caratini – If Caratini (103 ABs) had as many at bats as the man he is backing up, Yainer Diaz (183 ABs) he would be higher on this list. But that slash (.282 AB/ .359 OBP/ .776 OPS) for a guy who does not know if he is in the lineup day to day is really excellent. And he has also been very good in working with the pitching staff.
8. Cam Smith – The next few players are really close in my mind and there could be a real argument for a different order. After a real rookie start at the plate, Smith has been very good putting up a strong slash (.289 BA/ .358 OBP/ .797 OPS) in his last 37 games. He seems to be starting to drive the ball, which will only lead to better things and of course he has played RF better than anyone could expect for the first time out there.
7. Bryan Abreu – It is easy to concentrate on Abreu’s blown saves. But he has been unscored upon in 23 of his 25 appearances, has 14 Holds and a 1.82 ERA while manning the eighth inning in many tight games.
6. Jake Meyers – Meyers has been the anchor of the outfield, playing excellent defense in centerfield while nursing along his inexperienced compadres (Jose Altuve, Cam Smith, Zach Dezenzo) in the corner OF spots. During a time when so many hitters towards the top of the lineup, frankly, suck, he has been very good. His slash (.283 BA/ .346 OBP/ .743 OPS) has been much needed and has been a reflection of a steady performance at the plate.
5. Josh Hader – 1-0 record with 14 saves in 14 chances, sporting an excellent 1.50 ERA and 0.792 WHIP, while punching out 13.1 hitters per nine innings. He is tied in the majors with 21 games that he has finished. He has been an excellent and dependable closer and what else could you want.
4. Framber Valdez – Framber had a couple oopsies early in the season, but has turned that around and is once again the inning eater anchor near the top of the rotation. We will hit on the top of the rotation a little later in this piece. He’s tied for the most starts in the rotation with 11, has thrown the most innings (69 IP) and has a solid 3.39 ERA and 1.145 WHIP on the season. He is a critical cog for a starting rotation shaken by injury.
3. Isaac Paredes – Despite a bit of a slump (Isaac is 0 for his last 11), it is easy to see how critical he has been to the team. He is second on the team in OBP (0.366), first in SLG (.466), OPS (.829), runs (30), HRs (11) and RBIs (32). We are not saying Alex who? Yet, but we are thankful that Dana Brown brought in Paredes and Smith as part of the Tucker trade to buck up 3B and RF.
2. Hunter Brown – Hunter could be at the top of the list, but I struggle to put a player who is in every fifth or sixth game ahead of one who is grinding it out every day. Still, he has been excellent and if the MLB had a rule that you can’t play a major league game in a minor league tin can, he might well have a complete set of between good and excellent starts. He is 7-3, 2.00 ERA with 1 no decision. His no decision was six innings of 2 hit, 0 run ball. His losses were the aforementioned five runs in five innings at the tiny wind tunnel in Tampa, a six-inning, two ER effort early in the season and a complete game, 8 innings, 1 run loss to Texas.
1. Jeremy Pena – I don’t always use WAR to judge players, but Pena’s 3.1 WAR that is more than ½ point higher than anyone else stands out. He is an excellent fielder at the most challenging spot – shortstop. He’s played in all 56 games and started 55 of them at SS. He has been a good hitter all year, but hit another gear when he was moved to the leadoff spot in the lineup (.345 BA/ .402 OBP/ .914 OPS in those 29 games) and the team has responded with playing some of their best offensive ball of the season. For the season, he is first in BA (.300), OBP (.366), hits (64), and doubles (9), tie for first SBs (8), and second in runs (28) and RBIs (27) on the team.
Looking at the list it does feel strange. Coming into the season, one had to think that Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Yainer Diaz and Christian Walker would be on this list and they may still make it there. On the pitching side, the injuries to Spencer Arrighetti and Ronel Blanco have cut short any chance of them making the list.
So… how do you feel about this list? Anyone to add or subtract? Anyone to move up, down or out?
And how do you see this list changing at the end of the season?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
24 responses to “Astros 2025: At the one-third pole, the Astros’ Top 10 players”
Can’t disagree with you’re reasoning about leaving Hunter off #1, but he’s been about as stable and solid as any single player through the complete first third of the season.
Now, I’ll quibble with you on Cam Smith. I’ve liked the kid from the outset, so I’ll go to bat for him here.
I could put him as high as fourth on the list, but that’s because over the last 17 games (when the Astros were 10-7), Cam has a .344/.403/.443 line. That’s a pretty good span and, remember he never played AAA. Go back to my pre-season Bagwellian comparisons. Maybe too early yet, but not out of the question.
He’s so young I remember him playing LAST year in the College World Series.
Check out the Bagwell comparison.
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It’s an interesting point, Chip.
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In good news –
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I couldn’t care less if Arrighetti is playing catch. Call me when he’s playing pitch!
And keep his ass (and fingers) out of the outfield in practice. Just put him in a bubble like baby Travolta had.
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I’m not much of a ranker. The sum of all parts are what impress me. And we’ve always talked about the concept of needing 2 or 3 new guys to step up each year and have a significant impact. I don’t see Cam Smith falling into a significant slump. I guess April was his minor league career. He’s had an excellent May. His high leverage hitting is veteran like. He’s already become one of the best right fielders in the game. We’re going to see a lot more from him in the coming months. He’s far over performed my expectations. More than anyone else. And there already is a leadership element appearing. There is no smarter baserunner on the Astros. His intuition is immpeccible.
Hunter Brown had a tough 2023. After 11 starts in 2024 he had a 6.18 ERA. We talked about sending him down to regroup. But we didn’t have enough pitching. From that point last year we’ve seen remarkable maturity from the guy. He’s an All Star. He’s a leader. He’s one of the best in the business.
Issac is one of those new guys that has shown up. No, he also did not come out of our system, but he’s owned third base, which I think was a bigger question mark than right field. He’s one of our new leaders, the quiet one that rarely has a bad at bat and plays third base quite well. I’m sure he’s helped a couple of our guys at the plate, just by showing them how he goes about an at bat.
And Jeremy Pena has always shown up everyday and played steady, consistent baseball. Look at his WAR. 5.0, 4.1, 3.9, 3.1. He’s on a 9 plus pace for the season. Is that possible? Jeremy is my fourth leader.
We talked about a leadership vacuum as we entered 2025. All four of the guys I’ve just mentioned arguably have provided more consistent performance than the other 23. But more importantly, four new leaders have stepped up. They are not older either. 22, 26, 26, 27. That really helps me believe this club does not have to be rebuilt anytime soon.
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Thoughts
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I’m way too old to worry about jinxes! Hey, guess who’s in 1st place in the AL West?
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Wow, that one was quite a game too. The M’s jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first. Raleigh had two more homers. Woo was on the mound. Fast forward to the ninth. The Twins scored three off Munoz to tie it and then scored six more in the 10th to finish it. This just a night removed from giving up seven runs in the 10th. The crowd was booing the home team like they were in the Bronx.
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I second that Dan. Great baseball game. And an unlikely ending. That Cleavinger guy has a .143 BA against righty hitters. His .OPS against righties is .494. I think his OBP is .172. Extreme reverse splits for a left-hander pitcher. He got send out to make quick work of a right-handed line up.
He got rid of Jose and Walker effortlessly. Then I’m wondering how Framber was going to handle the Manfred man at second base, because we knew he’d be throwing the 10th with only 83 pitches through nine.
But then without any further ado, our latest awakening hitter stepped in and swatted the no-doubter well into the right field seats.
I was quite relieved as I danced up out of the recliner because I thought we had screwed things up in the 8th by letting Frenchie bounce into a double play with Victor sitting on the bench. Maybe Joe was simply building the exciting towards the Yainer walk off!
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My Mac has a great anti-spelling service that makes my own spelling worse than it already is.
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McCormick to IL, Whitcomb called up.
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Also – Yordan had discomfort after BP. Imaging found a fracture 60% healed – he is shut down
Who is on our medical staff? Dr Nick from the Simpsons?
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You beat me to it Dan…
According to Craig Roberts: Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown said Yordan Alvarez has a small fracture in his right hand that’s 60 percent healed. It was found after the inflammation went down. He won’t be swinging a bat for a while but will return in the “near future.”
I have stated for the past three years that the Astros medical staff is incompetent.
Now, about the hand injuries for all of the players: WEAR PADDED GLOVES as Jeff Bagwell did.
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How stupid can the medical staff be. Guy comes and complains that his hand is bothering him. The first thing you do is an xray of the hand. How embarrassing was today’s performance?
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well well, I chose the wrong game today to go to my first game of the season!!
at least I picked up one of those limited edition Bagwell tops !
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I think someone was tipping pitches in this game and the first one as well.
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The roller coaster ride continues. 16-3? Sarge, I thought about tipping pitches, but everyone in the pen? Maybe the pen some of us were worried about when the season started is the pen we’re starting to see. Or else, maybe the Rays are simply on fire right now. I don’t think Forrest Whitley can keep a job much longer though.
I think our team doctors are primarily Methodist Hospital based. Yikes, that’s where I go. If Dana Brown’s comments today were on the up and up, then medical malpractice might be at issue. But I don’t think the Astros have any credibility at this point. I’m not buying the inability to see a fracture for weeks and weeks due to fluid and inflammation though. You’d think they’d do an MRI once a week on Yordan. And how could Yordan be allowed to resume baseball activity without further imaging first? At this point, the league might decide to look into things. The players association sure should.
We had a quick visit to first place. Hopefully Hunter can pitch us to a split tomorrow. I think the Rays are a better team than given credit for. We need to hit too.
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The Astros pitching staff gave up 16 runs tonight, so they are calling up Jacob Melton. Put him out there in CF when the other team has batting practice, so what’s left of our pitchers don’t get killed!
How long will it take before we discover Dezenzo’s second injury? Depends on whether he goes on the 10 day IL or the 15 day IL.
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1oldpro, Joe got your message. But we’ve also got to keep playing Jake as long as he keeps doing what he’s doing presently.
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Can’t wait till our training staff become free agents that the Astros won’t be able to afford to keep. Then they can hire Bagwell to step in as interim trainer. Might as well bring in Jose Abreu to be his assistant, since he’s already on the payroll. He could swing and miss on the diagnosing just as well as anybody we have now.
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Thoughts
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I feel a bit better today. An excellent Phillie team gave up 17 runs last night.
Jacob might not hit at the ML level, but if there’s a good time to find out, it’s now. And as Dana’s pick, he’ll get plenty of chances, starting today! What I really do like is that we are adding another young, athletic guy to the roster. I really hope Melton succeeds.
What an opportunity for Hunter to quiet what looks like Murderers Row right now. Losing today would be tougher than the 16 and 13 run games by TB.
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What an effort by Hunter Brown. He did not know where the ball was going all day and still managed to throw six innings of shutout baseball. That was a gutsy performance. 1 hit. Just 49 strikes over 93 pitches.
I also think it was the most feeble collective effort by our hitters all season. Absolutely no situational awareness. When you’ve got a guy on third with no outs, you just have to get bat to ball. And Dubon has no business trying to bunt. He does not know how. Jose, he does not know when to bunt.
At the end of the day though we got a win. I think the Astros had to be relieved to get that split. I think the Rays left town pissed off. It’s too bad we don’t play those guys regularly. It seems like an instant rivalry has developed.
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When I mentioned, above, my idea of pitches being tipped, I was not referring to our pitchers, since so many were used in the blowouts, nor the catcher since they use the wireless system to signal pitch calling. There are three pitch signal units on the filed and one of the infielders use the third one. THAT ONE player is the one I believe was tipping pitches by his fielding setup before the pitch is thrown.
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