Astros: A full-health Houston Astros lineup among best ever

The Houston Astros are spanking the ball, and they’re doing it without some key figures, so let’s look at what this lineup would be when healthy.

Nobody knows what the future holds, but one thing we can all agree on is that this Houston Astros lineup would be a fearsome foe—arguably one of the best we’ve ever seen in the game of baseball—if completely healthy.

The problem is, with so many contracts running up at the end of this year and no indication of who stays and who goes, it’s unlikely that Yordan Alvarez will ever be in the same lineup with George Springer or Michael Brantley ever again.

But let’s have fun, assume everyone stays, and look at what this lineup could figure into. Because honestly, it becomes a lineup of where the hell do you fit everyone?

If fully healthy, the Astros would be unstoppable

When at full health, this Astros lineup would be composed of: an MVP, a World Series MVP, a perpetual MVP candidate, two AL Rookies of the Year, and Kyle Tucker, who is too new to have any accolades yet, but you can bet they’re coming.

So let’s take a gander.

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The front three always fills itself with Springer, Jose Altuve, and Alex Bregman. That’s been the Astros front three through all their untarnished successes and no matter what the future holds, it still is. You have a World Series MVP, multiple batting champ and MVP, and perpetual MVP candidate as well as future MVP all crammed into those three guys.

The next three are also pretty easy to fill in, though I’m taking some liberties. I’d slot Kyle Tucker in at the clean-up spot over Brantley, with Yordan Alvarez sitting behind him in fifth and Brantly filling out the second third of the lineup in sixth.

Given Alvarez’s propensity to clear the bases, best to get Tucker in before him to pile on before Alvarez wipes them clean, while Brantley’s high OBP lends itself to restart the rally.

For the bottom three, I’m looking at Carlos Correa at seventh, Yuli Gurriel in eighth, and the Machete, Martin Maldonado in the nine-hole. What’s remarkable about this is that Correa is another AL Rookie of the Year and he’s only able to fit in at seventh. Gurriel has been our best hitter at times and he can only make eighth, and Maldonado is one of the best in the Majors at driving home runners, even with two outs.

Again, we don’t know what the future holds for any of these guys, but even if we do lose Springer, Brantley, even Gurriel, this is a lineup that is scary and it is young. Also, it’s definitely not mediocre.