Opening Day 2022: Houston Astros Three Biggest Strengths

The Astros offense is once again one of the best in the majors.

It comes as no surprise that the calling card of the most successful stretch in Astros history is once again their biggest strength. Even despite the loss of Correa, the Astros return Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Michael Brantley, reigning batting champion Yuli Gurriel and most importantly a healthy Alex Bregman.

Bregman suffered from soft tissue issues and an injured wrist last year that really hampered his production. After a wrist surgery and an adjustment to the aggressiveness of his running game, he could be due for a huge bounce back year.

Gurriel, the reigning batting champ, picked up where he left off and then some. He was red hot this spring hitting .421 with three homers in just 21 plate appearances. He projects to be the Astros five hole hitter and looks like he’ll be just fine despite entering his age 38 season.

On the flip side the Astros youth movement in Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker are looking to get even better, if that’s possible. Tucker will now move from the six hole to the two spot in the batting order. It will be interesting to see if it affects his production in any way.

After May 1, he led the American League in batting average (.320), slugging percentage (.600), OBP (.387) and OPS (.986) and his poor April was largely due to hitting into bad luck.

If he and Yordan take steps forward in their game there should be little to no drop-off, even with the absence of Correa.

The Astros bullpen returns almost completely in tact.

While the team lost primary set-up man Kendall Graveman and lefty specialist Brooks Raley, the bullpen that rescued them in the 2021 playoffs otherwise returns in tact. They also added Hector Neris to fill the void left by Kendall Graveman so the drop-off talent wise is quite small.

The Astros bullpen was absolutely outstanding in the 2021 post season and you could argue they were just as much the 2021 ALCS MVP as Yordan Alvarez was. In a series where the relievers threw 32.2 innings to cover for the starters who threw a total of 20.1 innings — eight of which came in Framber Valdez’ game five starts.

It’s great to see that the combo of Ryan Pressly, Ryne Stanek, Phil Maton and Cristian Javier will once again be protecting leads alongside the new addition of Neris.

It will be interesting to see what happens if Jake Odorizzi falters and the Astros have to contemplate putting Javier into the rotation where they’ve said they see him long term. But for now Javier is the multi-inning reliever with Maton being the sixth inning guy who can match up with lefties and then Pressly closing it out with Stanek and Neris being the bridge to him.

Overall this solid bullpen will be a huge help considering starters are not fully stretched out so the more reliable one to two inning arms you have in the bullpen the better for this season that got off to a late start.  The teams that have less trustworthy bullpens will most likely struggle, at least early on in the year, due to starters being on innings restrictions.

The Astros have minor-league prospects at positions where the major-league roster needs help.

While the Astros farm system is ranked towards the bottom in terms of overall talent, the one thing they are fortunate in is that where their holes are on the major league roster, that’s where their top talent is in the minor league system.

The Astros top prospects are Jeremy Pena (SS), Korey Lee (C), Hunter Brown (RHP), Pedro Leon (CF/SS) and Forrest Whitley (RHP). If ever there was a top five prospect list perfectly set up considering the major league roster, it’s this one.

We all know now Pena is getting his shot to start at shortstop after the departure of Correa, but each one of the top five prospects are in the exact positions you’d want them to be in in terms of major league roster weaknesses (A forthcoming article on that.)

The Astros have veterans Martin Maldonado and Jason Castro behind the plate, but they’re definitely not there for their offensive capabilities. Not to mention with their age it’s entirely possible one of the two gets injured. That would mean Astros number two prospect catcher Korey Lee can come up and get his opportunity to impress at the major league level.

The Astros back end of the rotation is questionable, especially now that Lance McCullers Jr. is out indefinitely moving Jake Odorizzi into the five spot. Odorizzi was famously not known for being able (or allowed to) go past five innings.

The Astros not only have Cristian Javier looming and hovering from the bullpen like a vulture just waiting for his chance to swoop in and pick that spot up, but they have two high end prospects (albeit at very different points in their minor league careers) in Hunter Brown and Forrest Whitley who could make a difference if need be.

While Whitley has struggled with injuries and consistency, if he can put it all together and regain his form that got him to Double-A at the age of 19, it would be a real boon to a team that does have questions around its starting pitching depth.

And Pedro Leon is a natural center fielder who the Astros have played at shortstop more recently. If Pena thrives but the tag team of McCormick/Siri/Meyers struggles in centerfield, Leon can go back to his natural position and get his shot. And should Pena struggle, Leon can get his opportunity to come up and earn the shortstop position for himself.

Obviously this is all dependent on these prospects actually performing up to potential, but the Astros at least don’t have any of their top prospects blocked or being needed to move to another position just so they can get their chance.

Fortunately they all are right in the spots the Astros need them to be should anything go awry on the major league roster. The Astros are looking like they are poised once again to make a run to the playoffs  with a potent offense, reliable bullpen, and organizational depth at the exact right positions.