Astros: Three Underperformers Thus Far in 2017

Every team at one point or another have players that are struggling. It’s just the nature of the beast known as baseball. Oh look, the Astros have a few struggling players. How not surprising!

If you recall, I had a post detailing three Astros who had gotten off to praiseworthy starts to begin the 2017 season. One was Dallas Keuchel. Another was George Springer. But the most impressive example, in my eyes, was Chris Devenski.

It’s no secret that those three players have been quite good. But for every one of them, I bet there is an Astro who hasn’t gotten off to a glorious start. And I know exactly the three players that we can discuss.

Struggling Player #1: Carlos Beltran

One of the Astros noteworthy acquisitions was the signing of Beltran. You may remember him from his first stint with the franchise way back in 2004. In between these two stints, the roster has totally changed, new ownership is in town, the team is now in the American League and the color scheme has improved.

Anyway, the 2017 version of Beltran hasn’t been effective for the Astros. Entering Wednesday, the 40-year old veteran had a 71 wRC+, which was the lowest mark on the team. Believe it or not, but there have been worst hitters with at least 50 plate appearances heading into yesterday. 34 hitters to be exact. So, there is something that could be construed as a positive. Can I call that a positive? Sorry, I am a glass half-full type of guy.

So, Beltran has seen his batted ball profile change. His current hard hit percentage is a meager 14.6%. The same metric at the end of last season was 35.8%. In turn, his medium and soft hit percentages have jumped by 14.2% and 7.1%, respectively. Mind you that this is still a small sample size. But the early results haven’t been good for a batter that Houston has been penciling in the heart of the lineup most games.

Struggling Player #2: Luke Gregerson

One of the presumed strengths of the Astros is their bullpen depth. Between the likes of Gregerson, Ken Giles, Will Harris, and Devenski, there isn’t much to like on paper. However, the early season results do not always meet the hype. Let’s take Gregerson as an example.

In 7.1 innings, the right-handed reliever has posted a -0.2 WAR entering yesterday. Sure, it is not the same level as Sam Dyson of the Texas Rangers, who has a -0.4 WAR. But anytime a pitcher posts a negative WAR then there is an issue.

Oh, you don’t like WAR as a metric? Fine, I have a few more for you. Let’s use Gregerson’s lackluster 7.36 ERA and 6.04 FIP. Or his xFIP of 8.52. Then you have the 28.6% HR/FB rate. Um, yeah, the month of April hasn’t been kind to Gregerson as of late.

The Astros will obviously need an effective Gregerson to play up to their full potential in 2017. And there is little indication that it won’t happen. Don’t forget that Gregerson had a rough month or so last season as well. But his struggles are still something to watch going forward.