3 under-the-radar Astros players who are off to great starts in 2023

3 under-the-radar Astros players off to great starts in 2023.

To start the 2023 regular season, the always-dangerous Houston Astros seem to have had their flame dulled a bit. Through the first few weeks, the club is just 8-9 (although they are coming off a shellacking of the Toronto Blue Jays), good for third-place in the AL West.

The panic button is nowhere close to being pressed, though, as the Astros are still to be viewed as not only one of the more lethal teams in the American League, but Major League Baseball as a whole. After all, we're talking about the defending champions here.

Injuries to position players like Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley alongside pitchers Lance McCullers Jr. and Parker Mushinski have put a bit of a dent on the club's big league roster. While the pitching staff (starting pitching in particular) has enough depth on hand to replace LMJ, the position player side of things has been tested a bit to start the year.

Offensive mainstays like Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker are still doing their things, hitting .273 and .304 respectively, but others like Alex Bregman (.197) and Jeremy Peña (.217) are having some troubles getting going during the early goings of the season.

That's enough of the negativity. Let's talk about some players who are performing at a much higher rate than anyone saw coming.