The Astros finished the month of April with a lowly 12-20 record. They were tied for last in the AL West, tied for the worst record in the American League, and only above the 10-21 NY Mets in all of baseball.
How do they look vs. the other teams in the American League?
- Offense
- .265 BA (1st) / .346 OBP (1st) / .784 OPS (1st) / 168 runs (1st) / 40 HRs (3rd) / 13 SBs (13th)
- Starting Pitching
- 5.56 ERA (15th) / 14 IP (13th) / 1.570 WHIP (15th) / 160 Ks (7th) / 85 walks (15th worst) / 18 HR (9th most)
- Relief Pitching
- 6.63 ERA (15th) / 6 saves (12th) / 134.1 IP (2nd) / 1.71 WHIP (15th) / 28 HRs (1st – most) / 133 Ks (3rd) / 90 walks (1st – most)
There really is no surprise here as the Astros have joined up one of the best offenses in all of baseball with both a starting rotation and a bullpen staff that is the worst in baseball.
It might be the best argument around that pitching is more critical than hitting as adding great hitting to rotten pitching resulted in a rotten result.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ pitchers in the month of March/April.
| Name | Gm | W | L | Svs | IP | ERA | WHIP | Ks/9 IP | BAA | OBPA | OPSA | BAbip | IR/ IS |
| Hunter Brown | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 | 0.87 | 1.031 | 14.3 | .135 | .256 | .418 | .250 | N/A |
| Mike Burrows | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 31.2 | 6.25 | 1.674 | 9.4 | .315 | .378 | .901 | .378 | N/A |
| Lance McCullers Jr. | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 31.1 | 6.32 | 1.404 | 9.5 | .237 | .346 | .776 | .300 | N/A |
| Peter Lambert | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 15.1 | 3.52 | 1.239 | 11.2 | .211 | .318 | .581 | .316 | N/A |
| Cristian Javier | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.1 | 12.54 | 2.357 | 3.9 | .351 | .500 | 1.041 | .355 | N/A |
| Tatsuya Imai | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8.2 | 7.27 | 2.077 | 13.55 | .219 | .432 | .682 | .368 | N/A |
| Ryan Weiss | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 21.2 | 6.65 | 1.985 | 10.4 | .300 | .406 | .939 | .356 | N/A |
| Spencer Arrighetti | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 2.00 | 1.111 | 10.5 | .169 | .300 | .585 | .233 | N/A |
| Kai-Wei Teng | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 19.2 | 2.75 | 1.017 | 8.2 | .197 | .260 | .612 | .220 | 9/2 |
| Enyel De Los Santos | 11 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 11.1 | 5.56 | 1.500 | 7.9 | .277 | .333 | .447 | .780 | 4/0 |
| Colton Gordon | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.1 | 11.57 | 2.571 | 10.6 | .467 | .500 | 1.433 | .517 | 3/1 |
| Cody Bolton | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9.1 | 5.79 | 1.714 | 10.6 | .242 | .395 | .729 | .318 | 0/0 |
| Christian Roa | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8.2 | 5.19 | 1.962 | 6.2 | .313 | .465 | .965 | .346 | 5/2 |
| AJ Blubaugh | 13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 18.1 | 5.89 | 1.473 | 7.4 | .239 | .333 | .781 | .250 | 10/1 |
| J.P. France | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.2 | 8.10 | 1.650 | 5.4 | .240 | .387 | .787 | .250 | 1/0 |
| Bryan Abreu | 11 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9.1 | 12.54 | 2.786 | 15.4 | .289 | .491 | 1.148 | .389 | 3/0 |
| Jayden Murray | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6.00 | 2.000 | 7.5 | .318 | .429 | .792 | .389 | 3/1 |
| Bryan King | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11.2 | 3.86 | 1.371 | 10 | .244 | .358 | .692 | .344 | 7/4 |
| Steven Okert | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4.50 | 1.214 | 5.8 | .224 | .304 | .712 | .231 | 13/6 |
| Bennett Sousa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.1 | 13.50 | 3.750 | 20.3 | .250 | .625 | .875 | 1.000 | 1/0 |
| Roddery Munoz | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15.75 | 3.250 | 13.5 | .368 | .520 | 1.467 | .400 | 3/1 |
| Jason Alexander | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22.50 | 2.500 | 4.5 | .250 | .455 | 1.080 | .167 | 0/0 |
Note – I added the IR (Inherited runners) / IS (Inherited runners who scored) stat for the relievers.
- Starting Pitcher of the Month – Spencer Arrighetti – Sure he only started 3 games, but he won all three and was the most dependable starter where that bar was set very low.
- Runner-up – (Tie) Hunter Brown – Do I pick Brown, who was great in his only two starts or Peter Lambert who was solid in three starts? I hated to do it, but I picked Brown. I would love him to win the May award, but we know that is not likely.
- Relief Pitcher of the Month – Kai-Wei Teng – This was an easy pick, especially when considering he was even better as a reliever than his overall numbers – putting up a 2.16 ERA and 0.900 WHIP in his 11 relief appearances.
- Runner-up (Tie) – Bryan King – King was pretty good, which this month boosted him into the second spot in the reliever of the month “race”. His 3.86 ERA was OK. He allowed 4 of 7 inherited runners to score, which is below average. But that floated to the top of a putrid bullpen performance.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ position players in the month of March/April.
| Name | ABs | Runs | Dbls | HRs | RBIs | BBs | Ks | BA | OBP | OPS | BAbip |
| Isaac Paredes | 99 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 9 | 18 | .253 | .339 | .723 | .282 |
| Jose Altuve | 112 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 24 | .250 | .349 | .742 | .294 |
| Jeremy Pena | 43 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | .256 | .304 | .653 | .297 |
| Christian Walker | 116 | 19 | 9 | 7 | 24 | 13 | 23 | .293 | .366 | .918 | .310 |
| Cam Smith | 105 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 34 | .219 | .317 | .698 | .275 |
| Yordan Alvarez | 118 | 25 | 9 | 12 | 27 | 21 | 14 | .356 | .462 | 1.199 | .323 |
| Yainer Diaz | 92 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 3 | 15 | .250 | .268 | .627 | .273 |
| Jake Meyers | 37 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 8 | .243 | .326 | .704 | .276 |
| Carlos Correa | 106 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 14 | 15 | 21 | .274 | .361 | .757 | .321 |
| Joey Loperfido | 58 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 19 | .276 | .348 | .711 | .400 |
| Brice Matthews | 58 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 25 | .207 | .270 | .649 | .323 |
| Christian Vazquez | 49 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 8 | .327 | .389 | .920 | .359 |
| Taylor Trammell | 29 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 9 | .345 | .424 | .873 | .500 |
| Dustin Harris | 24 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5 | .167 | .250 | .500 | .200 |
| Nick Allen | 20 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | .250 | .318 | .618 | .333 |
| Daniel Johnson | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .154 | .313 | .466 | .200 |
| Shay Whitcomb | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | .091 | .167 | .530 | .273 |
| Braden Shewmake | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .200 | .200 | .700 | .167 |
- Positional Player of the Month – Yordan Alvarez – Yordan was All-World for one of the worst teams in the MLB. If you could have taken this one month performance and added it to his relatively meager 48 games in 2025, that team would have easily made the playoffs.
- Runner-up – Christian Walker – He has been very good so far in 2026 with the type of production that the Astros expected when they signed him before the 2025 season.
- Biggest Surprise (Positive) – Probably Walker as there was a feeling that he was on the down side of his career after a poor 2025.
- Runner-up – Christian Vazquez – In limited at bats, he has been extremely productive after having poor performances ever since he left the Astros in 2022.
- Biggest Disappointment – Tatsuya Imai – Others have worse numbers, but the disappointment comes from the fact that his failures are somehow tied to an emotional rather than physical problem. The Astros spent a hefty amount of money on Imai and are committed to 3 years of him if he never gets rolling.
- Runner-up – Oh how things have changed. Last April the tied runner-ups were Alvarez and Walker. This time we will pick Bryan Abreu, who not only has not filled the Josh Hader closer spot – his performance has dropped him to where he is only being used in blow-outs….if then.
Some Comments on March/April
There are some interesting and puzzling things that happened to the Astros so far in 2026:
- What is worse? Having the worst bullpen in the AL by almost every statistical statistic or having that terrible bullpen throw the most innings of any bullpen in the majors.
- Yordan is leading the majors in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, Games, Hits and HRs. I wonder if he drives the bus to the airport.
- Some of the individual pitchers walks/ 9 innings vs. Ks/ 9 innings are beyond belief. Imai – 11.4 walks/ 9 IP vs. 13.5 Ks/ 9 IP. Abreu – 14.5 walks/9 IP vs. 15.4 Ks/ 9 IP. Cristian Javier – 9.7 walks/ 9 IP vs. a piddly 3.9 Ks/ 9 IP.
- The MLB average ERA is 4.17. Only 5 of the 22 Astro pitchers this season have ERAs under 4.17. In fact the lowest of those 17 ERAs above average was Christian Roa at 5.19. Yuck.
- The MLB average WHIP is 1.330. Again only 5 of the pitchers have WHIPs better than that.
- I could go on, but you get the idea. This is an awful pitching staff from top to bottom. Can they hold on until they get more help back? Can they hold on until some of the ones who are not on the IL improve.
As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any new ones you want to award?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
9 responses to “Chipalatta Awards for March/April 2026”
Good morning,
Dan, you know I’m not big on these monthly awards when the team overall stinks, but Yordan has to be recognized. Walker should be recognized. Carlos has given us as much as I could have expected. When Pena gets back, it shortens the line up further. Not Jose. Someone really needs to sit him down and make his watch his at bats from the first two weeks of the season. I think it’s possible our beloved HOF candidate just might not be coachable at this point in time. Maybe Yainer and Issac should get a nod for giving us a bit of reason to be encouraged. If we had an outfield of hitters, Brice and Cam would be playing in Sugar Land, at least should be in Sugar Land right now. I’d hate to see Cam end up being once of those guys with great tools that never learned how to use them.
I think Burrows gave us a bit of hope last night. He got a bit of help, but managed his way through 18 outs. Spencer Arrighetti could give us a bit more hope this afternoon. But can the pen finish a game?
Right now in Boston I’m seeing two teams with similar records but I’m only seeing one team that might be getting ready to correct.
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Hope you are doing well Dave. The Astros are improving in my eyes but it’s not showing up as wins. If they could get an Imai with his head on straight and Hunter back it would help a bunch. But will that happen anytime or anytime soon?
They do still seem to have a problem with RISP – especially in tight games. So the offense is not blameless.
I still go back to – who is out – best starter – Brown on IL – best reliever – Hader on IL – top position player from 2025 – Peña on IL
Too much to overcome – especially with so many pitchers stinking it up
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Dan, the most glaring observations from your post.
* Arrighetti is your Pitcher of the Month, and he started the season in the minors.
* The players missing: Pena, Correa, Hader, Abreu, Meyers. Very telling as to where the team presently stands.
* Last year, the Astros went through pitchers with names like Neris, Whitley, Kimbrel, Weems, and Montero. This team seems destined to have as many names that represent replacements or attempts to plug holes.
Further, the Astros used 22 pitchers in April. Whoa! They used 36 all of last season. Again, very telling.
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Well one thing about the 22 pitchers this year vs the 36 last year – I’m not sure if they have 14 more MLB ready (or close) in the organization to pull in.
From the IL – you could add a few who have not pitched yet – Hader, Blanco, Wesneski and Pearson and maybe 3 or 4 more from the minors. It is ugly and getting uglier.
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The boys played a pretty good baseball game today. A batch of excellent defensive plays, some timely hits, mostly by our new first baseman, and yet another good start from Arrighetti. Add a pen that was able to hold on.
Can they win tomorrow and not waste this game?
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Oh, and I should not forget the big three run shot by Brice Matthews.
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Two wins in a row…super. Glad to see Cam come through in the 10th. Abreu beginning to look like his old self but not there yet. He does need to work on that throw to 1st however. While we were 1 for 8 with RISP the Redsox were 0 – 11 with leaving the bases loaded 3 times. Nice that pitchers were able to get out of those jams. Altuve with another base running blunder that could have cost us an earlier victory. Happy for the win but now it’s the Dodgers coming to town. That should be interesting. Hey, and we’re not in last place.
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That was an odd game. Things could’ve gone south during so many moments. And I saw a pretty rare 6-2-5 double play too. Jose is firmly back into his swing at first pitch mode. In the end, we won a game without any help from Yordan. We got 27 outs from guys we really needed to get them from and the Red Sox, presently in a terrible state, helped us out all afternoon long. But we ultimately split a road trip, and that’s a real positive right now.
Not sure what that means for the Dodger series though. Seems that Okert is the Opener tonight. Blubaugh might be able to help on Wednesday afternoon, but he went 3.2 yesterday. Bolton probably goes back to Sugar Land. Abreu threw the 9th and 10th. Hard to say how good he was, but the Sox did not hit anything hard over those six outs Bryan managed. Little steps. I just don’t know who we get 27 outs from tonight. It’s not easy being Joe.
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These days I almost want to see the Dodgers lose more than I want to see the Astros win, but this is a three game series and I think the objective for Joe is to not get swept. If the offense isn’t going to knock Yamamoto out and the pitching is struggling you need to let some guys take their lumps and give rest to the other guys in the bullpen. Sorry, Okert and friends. Only the A’s are above .500 in our division so while I want to see them go on a run and get back into the lead, I think the more realistic goal is to tread water while dealing with some of these injuries and just staying in striking distance. Having said that, it sure would be nice for the offense to go out and beat a great pitcher by scoring early and often.
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