Astros ALDS roster announced: 2 snubs and 2 surprises

The Houston Astros announced their ALDS roster on Tuesday. Playoff rosters are the same as those of the regular season, consisting of 26 men. Teams are only allowed a maximum of 13 active pitchers on the roster, which means the Astros will have to choose which two are staying off the playoffs roster and which 13 on the expanded roster from September are cut.

Via MLB.com, here’s a look at the Astros’ ALDS roster:

"Pitchers (12): Right-handers Bryan Abreu, Hunter Brown, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., Rafael Montero, Héctor Neris, Ryan Pressly, Ryne Stanek, José Urquidy and Justin Verlander; left-hander Framber ValdezCatchers (2): Martín Maldonado and Christian VázquezInfielders (8): Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Aledmys Díaz, Mauricio Dubón, Yuli Gurriel, David Hensley, Trey Mancini and Jeremy PeñaOutfielders (4): Jake Meyers, Yordan Alvarez, Chas McCormick and Kyle Tucker"

Astros ALDS Roster Snubs

Will Smith is the easy pick here as the snub for the Astros ALDS roster as the Astros will have no left-handers in the pen for the series. The bottom four in the Mariners lineup hit either switch or lefty and a change in pitch angle could aid the Astros in late innings. Smith also had a hot streak mid August through mid September where he didn’t give up a run and he hasn’t faced Seattle this season.  Why trade for him if you’re not going to use him?

J.J. Matijevic could be considered a snub for the Astros ALDS roster. The Astros have three utility men on the roster off the bench and none with true power. Hensley, Dubon, and Diaz combined are not the power players off the bench, especially after in two postseason stretches from normal years, excluding 2020 postseason, Diaz has one hit over 15 at-bats.  Matijevic didn’t make the best of his short stint this year with the big club but he has power potential, and hit two home runs and two doubles this year while with the Astros.

Astros ALDS Roster Surprises

Hunter Brown makes the playoff roster, after a brief stint in the majors this fall. Brown has two wins this fall and gave up only two runs over 20.1 innings resulting in a 0.89 ERA. He started two of the seven appearances, and didn’t give up a single run while in the pen, where he likely will be a big factor coming into October.

David Hensley also made the ALDS roster for the first time in his career after being called up this fall. Hensley impressed hitting .345 with one home run and driving in five, while also going 4/9 at the plate when coming off the bench.