Astros shored up one roster weakness with waiver claim theft from AL West rival

The Houston Astros have a lot of things that have gone wrong in 2026, but one issue that their roster has possessed goes back further, and that is their lack of handedness balance on the roster. For seemingly forever, the Astros have been looking for more left-handed bats they can trust and have been largely unsuccessful outside of all-world DH Yordan Alvarez.

Unfortunately, the Astros' outfield situation has only gotten more dire since the start of the season, with injuries to Jake Meyers, Joey Loperfido, and Taylor Trammell wiping out what little depth they had out there. However, an opportunity presented itself to handle both of those issues while causing a little havoc for the division-rival Mariners, and the Astros claimed Rhylan Thomas off of waivers.

Astros claim Rhylan Thomas off waivers from Seattle in an attempt to rebuild their depth

While Thomas hasn't exactly set the world on fire in the majors in very, very limited playing time, he did post decent offensive numbers from the left side in the minors in 2025. More of a speed-over-power guy, Thomas could prove useful to Houston against tough right-handed pitchers while they wait for guys to return from the IL.

As to when reinforcements from the injured list will arrive, that is more difficult to project, but help does seem to be on the way. Trammell appears to be getting close to going out on a rehab assignment, and he fills basically the same role that Thomas is likely to in the short term. Both Loperfido and Meyers appear to be a bit further away, but both players are at least doing baseball activities now.

This is where the Astros are at the moment. They have to take as many shots as they can to survive this stretch while guys get healthy. Adding Thomas is a worthy gamble, but one does wonder how much he will actually move the needle even if he does play well, given everything else that is flux at the moment.

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