It is a recognition of how poorly the Astros played in April that their 15-14 record in May is considered “good”. Their overall 27-34 record moved them into fourth place in the AL West, 4.5 games behind the surging Seattle Mariners. They are also 2-1/2 games out of the last Wild Card spot held by the Toronto Blue Jays.
How do they look vs. the other teams in the American League?
- Offense
- .219 BA (14th) / .287 OBP (T-14th) / .663 OPS (T-12th) / 103 runs (13th) / 39 HRs (3rd) / 8 SBs (15th)
- Pitching
- 3.66 ERA (6th) / 15 Wins (T-5th) / 1.21 WHIP (4th) / 209 Ks (13th) / 112 walks (3rd most) / 31 HR (T-5th most)
This is almost a complete flip-flop from the March/April numbers, where their hitting was the best in the league, and their pitching was the worst.
It also further emphasizes how pitching is more important towards winning….at least for the Astros, as top-third pitching in May brought them slightly above .500, while having the best hitting in March/April brought them a .375 win percentage.
But enough of the team stuff. How did the individuals do in May?
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ pitchers in the month of May.
| Name | Gm | W | L | Svs | IP | ERA | WHIP | Ks/9 IP | BAA | OBPA | OPSA | BAbip | IR/ IS |
| Mike Burrows | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 31.2 | 4.55 | 1.232 | 6.0 | .248 | .311 | .765 | .255 | N/A |
| Lance McCullers Jr. | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 9.00 | 2.000 | 11.3 | .324 | .410 | 1.087 | .381 | N/A |
| Peter Lambert | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 3.90 | 1.200 | 7.2 | .206 | .306 | .606 | .244 | N/A |
| Tatsuya Imai | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 20.2 | 4.79 | 1.065 | 6.5 | .186 | .296 | .696 | .160 | N/A |
| Ryan Weiss | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.1 | 12.46 | 2.769 | 10.4 | .381 | .480 | 1.194 | .429 | 3/0 |
| Spencer Arrighetti | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 0.93 | 1.138 | 6.8 | .165 | .311 | .517 | .200 | N/A |
| Kai-Wei Teng | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 22.1 | 2.41 | 1.164 | 10.1 | .173 | .311 | .604 | .229 | 2/0 |
| Enyel De Los Santos | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 1.50 | 0.583 | 9.0 | .140 | .159 | .322 | .194 | 3/0 |
| Bryan King | 12 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 13.2 | 1.98 | 1.244 | 4.0 | .231 | .298 | .606 | .244 | 9/1 |
| Steven Okert | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2.25 | 0.667 | 9.8 | .146 | .222 | .465 | .188 | 2/0 |
| Bryan Abreu | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1.00 | 1.222 | 7.0 | .143 | .368 | .547 | .190 | 3/0 |
| Cody Bolton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.2 | 5.06 | 1.781 | 9.3 | .289 | .373 | .928 | .344 | 4/3 |
| AJ Blubaugh | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.1 | 2.95 | 1.145 | 6.4 | .175 | .293 | .563 | .184 | 3/0 |
| Jayden Murray | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.1 | 8.44 | 2.063 | 0.0 | .390 | .440 | 1.005 | .391 | 1/0 |
| Bennett Sousa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 4.50 | 1.500 | 4.5 | .250 | .333 | .583 | .286 | 1/1 |
| Jason Alexander | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16.1 | 7.71 | 1.469 | 7.2 | .284 | .342 | .895 | .314 | 0/0 |
| Alimber Santa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.0 | 0.00 | 0.000 | 7.2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0/0 |
| Nate Pearson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.2 | 0.00 | 1.091 | 4.9 | .167 | .286 | .536 | .200 | 0/0 |
| Logan VanWey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 0.00 | 0.333 | 15.0 | .100 | .100 | .200 | .200 | 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 – Arrighetti held on to the crown with brilliant numbers for the month of May, his 0.93 ERA and .517 OPS against standing out.
- Runner-up – Kai-Wei Teng – It should be noted that some of Teng’s numbers came from the 3 relief appearances he had at the beginning of the month. But as a starter, he still had a very good 2.84 ERA.
Last Month Starting Pitcher of the Month – Spencer Arrighetti / Runner-up – Hunter Brown
- Special Acknowledgement – Peter Lambert pitched solidly (3.90 ERA) and was second in innings pitched. Mike Burrows still had below average numbers, but he improved almost every single stat significantly from March/ April. Also, after a very bad start to the season – Tatsuya Imai has settled down with a 2.70 ERA / 0.864 WHIP in his last three starts.
- Relief Pitcher of the Month – Bryan King – King held it together as the closest thing the Astros have currently as a closer to garner 5 saves, while putting up a 1.98 ERA and stranding 8 of 9 inherited runners.
- Runner-up (Tie) – Enyel De Los Santos and Steven Okert – De Los Santos had better numbers, but Okert seemed to be pitching every other day. They both helped hold the back end of the bullpen together.
- Last Month Relief Pitcher of the Month – Kai-Wei Teng / Runner-up – Bryan King
- Special Discussion – Based on numbers only, Bryan Abreu could have made a claim to one of these two awards. Well except for the huge .368 OBP, which reflected his inability to keep the ball in the strike zone (7 walks in 9 innings). But his results were better this month and at least that is encouraging even though he helped them blow the first game of the Brewer series.
- Also – A.J. Blubuagh put up very good numbers this month – even though he was being used a lot for multi-inning outings.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ position players in the month of May.
| Name | ABs | Runs | Dbls | HRs | RBIs | BBs | Ks | BA | OBP | OPS | BAbip |
| Isaac Paredes | 99 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 18 | .222 | .319 | .692 | .244 |
| Jose Altuve | 51 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 11 | .235 | .273 | .706 | .288 |
| Jeremy Pena | 49 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 10 | .286 | .333 | .803 | .297 |
| Christian Walker | 105 | 17 | 1 | 9 | 19 | 8 | 25 | .200 | .276 | .743 | .169 |
| Cam Smith | 92 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 26 | .217 | .294 | .609 | .281 |
| Yordan Alvarez | 98 | 14 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 17 | 33 | .238 | .340 | .856 | .238 |
| Yainer Diaz | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .222 | .222 | .566 | .250 |
| Jake Meyers | 35 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | .229 | .250 | .593 | .259 |
| Carlos Correa | 16 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | .313 | .421 | .984 | .400 |
| Brice Matthews | 84 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 6 | .202 | .253 | .550 | .259 |
| Christian Vazquez | 65 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 12 | .185 | .243 | .520 | .196 |
| Taylor Trammell | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | .273 | .304 | .668 | .500 |
| Dustin Harris | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .429 | .429 | .857 | .500 |
| Nick Allen | 31 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | .258 | .294 | .649 | .269 |
| Shay Whitcomb | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .167 | .167 | .333 | .250 |
| Braden Shewmake | 64 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 10 | .250 | .269 | .659 | .264 |
| Cesar Salazar | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | .056 | .227 | .283 | .067 |
| Zach Cole | 51 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 21 | .157 | .189 | .542 | .185 |
| Zach Dezenzo | 45 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 18 | .200 | .265 | .621 | .308 |
- Positional Player of the Month – Christian Walker – Yes, his slash stats stunk, but he drove in 19 runs, 7 more than any of his teammates, and he also led the team with 17 runs scored and 9 home runs.
- Runner-up – Yordan Alvarez – Yordan could not keep up the pace of March/ April and he didn’t, but he still was solid with 14 runs/8 HRs/ 12 RBIs despite a low (for him) .238 BA.
- Special Acknowledgement – Jeremy Pena – If you double up his numbers (since he missed about half the month) – you get 20 runs, 6 homers and 16 RBIs out of your lead-off hitter, I sure would take that anytime.
- Last Positional Player of the Month – Yordan Alvarez / Runner-up – Christian Walker
- Biggest Surprise (Positive) – I’ll go with Braden Shewmake, who I had no expectations for – and he did well in a month where he was needed with Carlos Correa out for good and Jose Altuve out for short time, we hope.
- Runner-up – Nick Allen – getting anything out of the guy with a great glove was a positive.
- Last Biggest Surprise (Positive) – Christian Walker / Runner-up – Christian Vazquez
- Biggest Disappointment – The offense as a whole. I know there were a lot of newbies in the lineup, but there was hardly anybody (Altuve, Paredes, Walker, Alvarez, Vazquez) hitting up to their career BA numbers.
- Runner-up – That Lance could not make it through 2 months before having a return to an injury that may take him down for the season.
- Last Biggest Disappointment – Tatsuya Imai / Runner-up – Bryan Abreu
Some Comments on May
There are some interesting and puzzling things that happened to the Astros so far in 2026:
- Alimber Santa with a .000 BA/.000 OBP/ .000 OPS slash against, but with a loss due to the stupid extra inning rules.
- The only hitter who walked as much as he struck out (3 BBs/ 3 Ks) was their worst hitter Cesar Salazar (.056 BA).
- Looking at that .313 BA/ .421 OBP/ .984 OPS slash for Carlos Correa is just depressing as we will not see him again this season (on the field).
- Have to love those .000 ERAs (in small samples) for Santa, Nate Pearson and Logan VanWey in their 10 total appearances.
- Even though Ryan Weiss was overall awful, at least he stranded the 3 runners he inherited.
As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any new ones you want to award?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 