Astros starting pitching has been near flawless, but that's the problem

The Houston Astros received another strong start on Tuesday. Hayden Wesneski, the Houston native, got his Astros' career off on the right foot with a five-inning performance that yielded just three runs on two hits. While Astros manager Joe Espada would no doubt love to see fewer walks (3), Wesneski struck out six and kept his team in the game.

Wesneski was the fifth of five starters to make their 2025 debut, and so far, all is well within the Astros starting rotation. Framber Valdez set the tone on Opening Day, and the other four followed. Hunter Brown, Spencer Arrighetti, Ronel Blanco, and Wesneski all did enough to put their team in position to win.

But in three of the five contests, the Astros have taken the loss. And while questions were swirling surrounding the Astros rotation at the outset of the 2025 season, it's been the Houston bats that have been sorely disappointing.

Astros starting pitching has been near flawless, but that's the problem

Counting on the 1-2 punch of Valdez and Brown to lead the charge in 2025 is perfectly legitimate. Valdez is a bona fide ace and Brown has the skillset to match his ambition to be a frontline starter for the next decade. But it's a fool's errand to believe that Arrighetti, Blanco, and Wesneski can survive without much run support.

As a team, the Astros starting rotation ranks third in ERA (2.79) among all American League clubs, and only the Chicago White Sox starting staff (14) have allowed fewer hits than Houston's starters this season.

But the Astros' bats are another story altogether. Only the Seattle Mariners (.166), who everyone knew would have a terrible offense in 2025, have a lower batting average than the Astros. Houston's .487 OPS is the worst among all AL teams to begin the year, and some of the Astros most important weapons are putting up pathetic numbers through the first five games of the season.

Yordan Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, and Christian Walker have gone a combined 5-for-50. You don't have to be math wiz to see that the middle of the Astros' batting order is hitting a combined .100. Ouch!

While it's great to see the Astros' starter come out of the gates red-hot, it's thoroughly disappointing to see Houston's bats lag behind. Oh, by the way, Kyle Tucker has homered in four straight games for the Chicago Cubs and hitting .353/.450/.853; just in case you wanted to know.

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