5 Astros storylines to follow as 2022 season begins

Will Jose Altuve continue to leadoff?

Baker said he would like for someone other than Altuve to leadoff, but the problem is there’s no real candidate to do so. The righty batted leadoff in 676 of his 678 plate appearances in 2021, and he was pretty good at it.

There’s a couple of theories here and one is you only lead off once – in the first inning – and otherwise it’s just the luck of how the batting order falls as to who leads off the next inning and so on.

The other theory is the leadoff hitter has a role, no matter when he gets to the plate, to get on base and set the table for the RBI guys. Sounds like Baker is a believer in the latter.

McCormick could be an option, but he hit only .182 in 11 at bats there last season and his swing and miss style is not really what you’re looking for at the top of the order. Peña has led off a couple of times in the spring games, but it would be unfair to add that pressure to the pressure cooker of having to replace Correa, at least early in the season.

It seems that Altuve is the man, at least for now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime during the season a change is made, especially if Pena holds his own at the plate.

Astros Orbit:

Outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. was released by the Miami Marlins.