Houston Astros: Trend – Who’s Hot, Who’s Not (Vol 8)

Who’s Hot

Kyle Tucker

I wanted to call out the brilliant recent play of recent call-up Jose Siri, but Kyle Tucker needs more recognition. Kyle Tucker is hitting .335 over the last 15 games, for as 1.091 OPS, with three home runs nine RBI’s. On a team full of elite hitters, Tucker has been the best on the team for an extended period of time.

He’s been slamming balls into left field stands, nailing gaps for RBI doubles to break games open, and has been striking out less and less as time goes on. Tucker has been hitting near .400 in the last 30 games, and generating better stats than Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Fernando Tatis Jr, and Brandon Belt amongst others.

If it weren’t for his really slow start back in April, Tucker would likely be an All Star and arguably could have been in the mix for second-place MVP. Since May 8th Tucker has been hitting .335 with a 1.021 OPS. His 162-game pace would lead to 40 home runs 121 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases – impressive.

Two years ago, Kyle Tucker was starting to be considered a semi-bust amongst silly Astro fans. His initial stints in the big leagues did not yield great results from the plate and was caught chasing high fastballs out of the zone at an alarming rate. This is a great example of a highly talented player that the Astros believed in who just needed time to develop. Now let’s just sit back and watch him rake.

TEAM ABC

I just want to say how great it is to have Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa on the field together. It just wasn’t the same when Bregman went on the IL earlier this year. But these three MVP and future MVPs have been playing stellar baseball as of late. These three core players have combined for a 46-of-136 (.339 BA) with eight home runs, 38 RBIs and then OPS of .948. None of these guys are “on-fire”, but they all are hitting well and are trending upwards.

When the playoffs start, situational hitting will be even more key for team success. Houston will have an advantage here because I would argue these three guys might be the best situational hitters in all of baseball.