Houston Astros’ All-Time Best Seasons: Left Field

Climbing Tal’s Hill sixth installment of the Astros’ All-Time Best Season Series covers left fielders. Throughout the past 53 years there have been 24 regulars, according to Baseball-Reference.  Only one of those has had their jersey number retired by the Astros organization: Jose Cruz.

In case you have missed the discussions regarding catcher and the infield positions, they are linked below:

• who made the cut at catcher?
• Bags, Davis, and more
• a pair of hall-of-famers and a third in the making
• steady diet of third basemen in history
• Adam Everett makes an appearance, who else fits in there?

This has been one of the more difficult tasks as a writer at Climbing Tal’s Hill. My youth means that I only have about 15 years to assess players visually. To try to stay objective in assessing numbers, I will try to use consistency with home runs, runs batted in and batting average. But OPS+ is a very nice tool as well.

In terms of games played the cut-off is 523 games: Lance Berkman. Bob Watson, Luis Gonzalez, Carlos Lee, and Jose Cruz are included in the rest of that list.

Please click through the following slide show of candidates. Also, be sure to vote for your favorite at the end of the presentation.

Next: 1973: Bob Watson

Bob Watson had one of his finer years with the Houston Astros during the 1973 season. While there were a couple which were overall better, 1973 was his best year as a left fielder. As a 6’0″ 27-year-old, Watson played in an all-star game during this season. He did what he could on a team that finished 82-80. Though he did fall short of 100 RBI, I take strong consideration for what he accomplished with the Astrodome as his home ballpark.

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• Top 5 Coolest Astros of All-Time
• Best Houston Astros Moments from the 2021 Season
• Astros’ All-Time Lineup in Terms of Career-bWAR

Overall Bob had a slash-line of .312/.405/449 which B-R has adjusted to an OPS+ of 137. Surprisingly, Watson did manage to hit more home runs at home (10) than on the road (6). Bob Watson played 14 seasons with the Astros prior to being traded to the Red Sox during the 1979 season. He went on to play with the Yankees and Braves prior to retiring.

His path in baseball did not end there. Eventually he would become the first African-American General Manager with the Astros in 1993. In three short years, with the New York Yankees, he became the first black GM to win a World Series. Note: Watson has made an appearance in this series so far at first base; I feel that his ’73 season was worthy of an appearance in this list as he played as a left fielder the majority of this season.

Next: 1993: Luis Gonzalez

I might be a little biased in choosing one of Luis Gonzalez’ seasons. My birth year is 1993; nonetheless he enjoyed an impressive season as a 25-year-old left fielder. I placed a lot of value on his consistency as he hit .299 versus righties and .302 versus lefties. Gonzalez hit 15 home runs, with 34 doubles, and 3 triples while creating a slash line of .300/.367/.451. Baseball-reference normalizes his .818 OPS to an OPS+ of 123.

The 1993 Houston Astros compiled a win-loss record of 85-77. That was good for 3rd in the NL West that year. The team under performed as evidenced by their Pythagorean luck leaving them 5 wins under expectations.

Gonzalez was traded to the Cubs in the 1996 season and rejoined the club via free agency in 1997. He had stints with the Tigers, Marlins, and Dodgers during his major league career. However Luis found popularity with the Diamondbacks from 1999-2006. Gonzalez would be a 5-time all-star in that time while winning one silver slugger and of course was a part of the Dbacks World Championship 2001 season.

Next: 2007: Carlos Lee

June 25, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros first baseman Carlos Lee (45) celebrates hitting a solo home run against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

Next on my list is a player that many people grew to dislike. Carlos Lee signed a 6-year, $100 million deal that never did bring the success that fans wanted – a world series championship. Arguably two of his best seasons in the majors came during his tenure with the Astros. While it is true that Lee fell off significantly in production in the 5th and 6th years before being traded for Matt Dominguez, Lee was well past his prime.

In terms of OPS+, Lee’s best season came in 2008. A year in which Houston became fully against the tactics of Bud Selig, Lee hit for a .314/.368/.569 slash line. In just 115 games he managed to drive in 100 runs while mashing 28 home runs. Given that his season fell short in games played, I have decided to include the 2007 season as his best. And due to that designation on my part, Carlos Lee’s 2007 season is one of the best all-time in Astros’ history. One of his 19 career triples came out of the 2007 season. Overall Lee’s slash-line was .303/.354/.528. This was all despite setting a career-high in double plays with 27 of them. Baseball-reference normalizes his OPS+ to 125 for this year’s performances.

Lee was simply a great hitter in his career. In 14 seasons he struck out only 984 times against 655 walks. Sixty of those were intentional. Overall that equates to an 12.32% K rate – signs of a completely different era than the one the Astros are currently playing.

Next: 1983: Jose Cruz

The next two players are Astros Legends. One has his number retired while the other, fans say, should have his number retired. While I do not disagree, I think that we have too many numbers retired as an organization. And that is worthy of its own discussion as one of the more difficult situations the Astros need to resolve.

Jose Cruz ranked better in the MVP-voting after the 1983 season. His batting average was higher as well. But Baseball-reference pegs 1984 as his better year in terms of OPS+. The next column is where I am deciding this as a tiebreaker. Perhaps it be that total bases is not the best measure to use. Regardless Cruz posted three seasons of at least, or in excess of 275 total bags. In 1983, however, Cruz set his 277 as a career high.

En route to a silver slugger and finishing 8th in the MVP voting, Cruz had a slash-line of .312/.381/.462 while starting 160 games in left field. The days of the Astrodome surely limited his true potential. Of his 12 home runs in 1983 none of them were hit at home. His slash lines were also totally different: .276/.367/.371 at home while he created a .344/.394/.545 line of heavy damage on the road. And 1983 was a totally different era than the baseball we see today. Cruz had 28 doubles and 13 triples, stealing 22 bags and striking out fewer times than he earned a free pass.

Next: 2001: Lance Berkman

Apr 5, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; former Houston Astro Lance Berkman is honored prior to the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Richardson-USA TODAY Sports

This final section highlights “The Big Puma” or “Fat Elvis” depending on which nickname you prefer. His years in Minute Maid Park featured a fan club dubbed “The Little Pumas” so that’s probably the name that most people will use to identify Lance Berkman.

Any one of about ten seasons qualifies Berkman for this list. His lowest OPS+ of 130 came in the same season that I chose for Carlos Lee a moment ago. His career year, 2006, earned him an OPS+ of a staggering 163. Career-highs were set in runs batted in (136), home runs (45), and slugging percentage (.621). 2006 was one of six appearances for Berkman on the All-Star team and one of five as a member of the Houston Astros. Lance also ranked well among his peers, finishing 3rd in the MVP race, behind only Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols.

Unfortunately his performance in 2006 does not qualify Berkman for this installment of the series. But wait! Remember how I said he had many seasons with an oustanding OPS+? Well, there were two seasons in which Lance logged significant playing time in left field. In the second season in which the Astros played at Enron Field (now called Minute Maid Park), Berkman set a career high in doubles with 55 of them. He also managed 5 triples while driving in 126 runs and hitting 34 round-trippers. His slash-line of .331/.430/.620 is impressive on its own. But his on-base plus slugging was a career high of 1.051. Just beautiful statistics on paper.