2 Astros players who are already earning more playing time, 3 who deserve less

The Houston Astros' start to the 2025 season has been less than stellar. Offensive ineptitude has plagued Joe Espada's crew through the first two weeks of the season, and Houston is sitting below .500 once again to start a year.

Houston was able to overcome their troubling start last year, but neither Kyle Tucker nor Alex Bregman are part of the Astros roster this time. While some of the new faces — Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneksi — have performed admirably thus far, others have struggled and are keeping Houston from stringing wins together at the outset of the season.

A couple of players have earned increased playing time, while others should have Espada looking to use the bench as motivation. Which two Astros players have earned extra playing time this season and who deserves to have fewer bites at the apple?

2 Astros players who are already earning more playing time

Bryan King, Astros pitcher

The backend of the Astros bullpen has been holding things down — if and when the Astros have a lead late in games anyways. Both Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu have been their typically reliable selves in the eighth and ninth innings. But Bryan King has been a pleasant surprise during the early going. Heading into Tuesday's contest, the southpaw hadn't allowed a barreled ball all season and was among the best in the league with a strikeout rate near 50%.

Ryan Gusto, Astros pitcher

It's hard to quantify what Ryan Gusto has meant to the Astros pitching staff through the first couple of weeks this season. The right-hander has worked as both a starter and reliever, relentlessly pounding the strike zone, and inducing a whiff rate near 30%. The Astros don't yet know if/ when Gusto will make his next start, but regardless of how he's used, Espada may need to lean on his rookie hurler a even more as the season moves along at this rate.

3 Astros players who deserve less playing time

Tayler Scott, Astros pitcher

As good as both King and Gusto have been, Tayler Scott has been equally as bad. While Scott has seen a tremendous uptick in his ground ball rate, every other metric has been downright awful. Most alarming is Scott's inability to find the zone, as evidenced by his ghastly 15.4% walk rate. Scott's out of minor-league options, so there's no going back to Triple-A for a tuneup. Scott may need to be used in very low leverage situations over the coming weeks, and if he can't handle those, it may be time for Houston to cut bait.

Yainer Diaz, Astros catcher

Has there been a more disappointing bat in Houston's lineup than Yainer Diaz? Many MLB experts and pundits expected the Astros backstop to take that next step forward and even find his way onto the American League All-Star roster this season. At this rate, he'll be fortunate to be part of the active roster by mid-July. Worse yet, the strides that Diaz made defensively seem to be fading away as well. Last season, Diaz gunned down over 22% of would-be base stealers, so far this season, he's 1-for-12 (8.3%). Victor Caratini might be hanging the signs a little more often if Diaz doesn't figure out his way out of this funk.

Christian Walker, Astros first baseman

Astros fans are beginning to wonder if first base is cursed. After signing Jose Abreu to a disastrous contract in 2023, the Astros tried to right that wrong by bringing in Christian Walker this past offseason. A spring training injury could be to blame for the Gold Glover's slow-start, but few Astros fans have any sympathy at the moment after watching Walker flail wildly at pitches outside the zone. The veteran infielder's chase rate is nearly 30%. With the strikeouts piling up, it may be time for Espada to move Walker out of the cleanup spot and even give him some more days off here and there until he figures things out.