Brendan Rodgers’ bizarre prediction after joining Astros just doesn’t quite add up

Eric Cole

Washington Nationals v Houston Astros / Rich Storry/GettyImages

The Houston Astros are set to move Jose Altuve to the outfield, meaning the team now needs to fill the void second base; at least for the 2025 season, if not longer than that. Most agree that veteran Mauricio Dubón is the most likely choice to inherit the position given his experience and defensive acumen.

However, the Astro really like having Dubon as a super utility option that can be moved around and play many different positions all over the field. That's likely the reason why the Astros made the move to add Brendan Rodgers earlier this offseason.

A former top draft pick, Rodgers has been high in raw talent, but lacked when it came to actual production (outside of a strong 2022 season) during his six seasons with the Colorado Rockies. However, Rodgers has a very strange opinion regarding his outlook after leaving the hitter-friendly confines of Colorado that doesn't exactly line up with reality.

Brendan Rodgers thinks he will hit better with the Astros than he did with the Rockies

Look, we love the optimism here and it would be pretty weird if Rodgers joined Houston and said that he if couldn't hit at Coors Field, there is no hope for him elsewhere. Rodgers is still a supremely talented player and there is little risk for the Astros in seeing if there's anything left in the tank. The Rockies are also quite bad and there is certainly something to the idea that failure can be contagious.

However, Rodgers' believes that leaving the Rockies could actually help his offensive production, claiming he would be able to pick up spin better away from Coors Field, and then stated that he had "been a sea-level hitter" his whole life.

There might be a certain amount of truth to that in theory, but it is hard to blame the Rockies' home park — which almost exclusively boosts hitters' numbers — for Rodgers' subpar batted ball metrics. Rodgers also managed to hit breaking balls well in 2021 and 2022, which doesn't really jive with his spin explanation.

All of that doesn't mean that Rodgers won't succeed in Houston and turn into a really useful piece. The Astros are extremely good at identifying players' flaws and finding ways to fix them. If the team can figure out how to get Rodgers to barrel the ball more and make better swing decisions in general, he could really help Houston's depth, which would allow Houston to move Dubón around like they would probably prefer.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.