Astros need to be extremely careful with their upcoming decision on Zach Dezenzo

Coming into the year, there were questions about whether top prospect Zach Dezenzo would break camp with the big league club. Dezenzo made his debut in 2024, but he struggled to find his footing at the plate. He got only 65 plate appearances, so it's tough to make a real assessment with the small sample size. Given his previous destruction of minor league pitching, you're probably still left to think that Dezenzo will turn things around when given the chance.

And it's possible that chance comes sooner than later. Astros manager Joe Espada has been open about giving Dezenzo the opportunity to crack the Opening Day roster. Not for nothing but Dezenzo's performance this spring has stood out. He's now hitting .415/.455/.683 through 44 plate appearances and all signs point toward him being ready to be up in Houston, rather than down in Triple-A Sugar Land.

But there's one critical factor that the Astros have to take into consideration, and that's whether there will be regular playing time for Dezenzo if he's up in the majors. "If one of those players makes the team, I want those guys to play often. Everyday at-bats. When we sit down and we make those decisions, we take those things into account", Espada said, speaking about Dezenzo and fellow top prospect Cam Smith.

If the Astros are going to put Zach Dezenzo on the Opening Day roster, he needs to play every day

If the Astros are intent on playing Dezenzo every day, that'll allow him to get into a rhythm and really focus on his development at the plate. It would be ideal if that spot came with a consistent role in the field as well, rather than being bounced around between the outfield corners and first base like what we've seen this spring.

If Christian Walker is healthy, Dezenzo probably isn't pushing him off the position. But the outfield is more open. The Jose Altuve as an outfielder experiment isn't going very well. He's missed a few routine catches out there and he's entering his mid-30's, so he's not getting any quicker.

Assuming the Astros believe that Dezenzo is ready, and his performance this spring sure looks like that is the case, then the team ought to move Altuve back to second, put Dezenzo into left field, and shift Mauricio Dubon to the bench. You don't love losing Luis Guillorme's left-handed bat because there are so few of them on this roster, but Guillorme has been truly awful at the plate in recent years and it's a sacrifice that should be made.

To be clear, Dezenzo should only be up if he's going to play every day. If there's any question about that, he should start the year in Sugar Land where he can get every day reps. Starting the year on the bench in Houston is too much of a risk for his development. We've seen Dezenzo's potential, now it's time for the Astros to unleash it and give him a full run of plate appearances to see if he can capitalize on them.

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