Opening Day 2022: Houston Astros Three Biggest Weaknesses

With Opening Day finally here, the Astros enter the 2022 season as the favorites to win the American League West.

But like every team in the majors, no roster is perfect. Everyone is always looking for that extra piece that could help get them over the edge, but sometimes it’s hard to tell pre-season what that will be.

It only becomes more clear as the first half of the season lurches on and player performances no longer become small sample sizes but true reflections of what they are capable of. With that said, here are the three spots on the Houston Astros team that you could see struggle to perform and may need to be addressed during the season to improve the team.

The Astros’ catching tandem are great veterans but are offensive liabilities.

Martin “Machete” Maldonado is a fan favorite in Houston and a terrific defensive backstop. He’s great at managing a game and a pitching staff. Unfortunately his offense is to put it mildly, subpar.  Jason Castro is not much better at the plate though he does have a penchant for coming through in the clutch.

That said the Astros lost one of their offensive stalwarts in Carlos Correa making their deep lineup just a little bit thinner. Where last year’s lineup was strong one through seven, this year it is unknown how Jeremy Pena will handle the bat.

The lineup is still good enough to cover for the offensive shortcomings of Maldonado and Castro, but an injury or two to big players could amplify how much their inability to get on-base hurts the team.

Even still, what they bring defensively and in terms of leadership does make up for these shortcomings. As far as weaknesses go, catchers generally are on the team for defensive purposes anyway, so having it be a black hole offensively isn’t terrible. It just depends on how much of a black hole it is.

The Astros have an on-going battle for centerfield entering the season.

Right now, Chas McCormick looks to be the incumbent who will take the field opening day. But Dusty Baker has talked about how much he loves Jose Siri’s energy and would rather have someone make mistakes aggressively than try to teach them an aggressive nature.

Since the departure of George Springer, the Astros have tried Myles Straw, Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers and now Jose Siri has entered the mix.

Not speaking from personal experience, but from what I’ve gathered ball players like to know where they stand on the team. When can they be expected to be penciled in and if they are a starter or role player off the bench.

Solidifying roles is huge mentally for preparation day in and day out.  Right now the Astros have two players capable of handling center field duties with a third, Jake Meyers, on his way back from injury.

The lack of certainty and experience at the position (All three of Siri, Meyers and McCormick are within their first year of playing at the major league level) leaves the Astros with question marks on who is the best fit and now they will be experimenting going into the season.

There’s nothing to suggest all three players couldn’t develop into the reliable producer the team needs, especially since they’ll be hitting in the bottom third of the order and just need to give decent production (.250-.260 batting average would suffice.)

It will be hard to develop a rhythm though without the regular at-bats. Dusty Baker hopefully makes a commitment sooner rather than later so the team can move forward.

And while shortstop could have made this list, Jeremy Pena is truly an unknown. We don’t know if he will be a weakness, a strength or just enough to keep the team winning.  All of these unknowns will soon become clear. Starting tonight.