Astros news: 3 guys who must step up in Alvarez’s absence

2. Abraham Toro

In case you haven’t gathered by now, I’m a big fan of Abraham Toro. A switch-hitter that can spray the ball to all fields? That’s someone I can root for.

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And after diving into his “pending offensive breakout” prior to what could be considered his actual offensive breakout, I’m feeling pretty good in saying that while we won’t see the big fly numbers from Toro, we will see plenty of other numbers.

Toro squares the ball up really well. He’s not a guy who will strike out a lot. And even before this 2-3 performance, which got his batting average to a grizzly .162, he was hitting the ball hard. Don’t believe me? Check out the evidence.

Baseball has a way of leveling itself out, and Toro is due a good leveling. He’s been lining into far too many outs this season to be called fair. Given how short this season is, it’s time to see him take that poor luck and levy it into regular luck for the rest of the season.

On to what should be an obvious No. 1.