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

1. Kyle Tucker

Even if he’d gone 0-5 with 5 strikeouts against the Rockies, I’d still put Kyle Tucker No. 1 on this list. The only player who can single-handedly help us get over the Yordan Alvarez injury is this man right here, Kyle Tucker.

We had yet to see him really connect. That walk-off against Seattle might have turned something on in his batter’s eye, but against the Rockies, he looked like a brand new man. And while Tucker isn’t going to match Alvarez’s power numbers (no one will, face it), you can bet that he can bring excitement in other ways, like getting two triples and a home run in a single game.

Tucker has the speed to burn the basepaths and the power to trot them. He is sneakily our second-highest RBI producer.

You don’t simply replace Alvarez, but you can steal the attention of the fans so conclusively that they think less about him, and Kyle Tucker is definitely an attention-stealer.