5 Astros players that have been horrifically unlucky in 2023

All things considered, the Houston Astros are in a good spot. Despite losing their past two games, everyone else in the American League West has been losing the last couple of days as a well. Houston's lead is just a half game over Texas and Seattle is lurking just 1.5 games back, but any lead is a lead in the division worth having especially this late in the season.

The Astros have had to overcome a lot to get to this point. A litany of injuries to key players on both sides of the ball made things incredibly difficult in the middle portion of the season especially when Texas' offense was going wild at the same time. However, one factor that isn't talked about enough is that the Astros have had some players that, for one reason or another, have played better than their counting stats show thanks to good ol' fashioned crummy luck.

Here are 5 Astros players that have been horrifically unlucky in 2023

Luck is extremely difficult to define, but that hasn't stopped baseball data analysts from trying to pull it off. What is going to be the focus here is a group of Astros players that have significantly underperformed their expectated stats (xStats if you will).

For hitters, that means looking at their xBA, BABIP, and xWOBA. For pitchers, FIP, xFIP and and xERA are going to be the focus. If you are unfamiliar advanced metrics, Fangraphs has a great glossary of analytics terms with detailed explanations you should definitely peruse. There will also be notes on players that have been unlucky in less math-y ways like injuries, etc.

Let's take a look at 5 Astros players that have been pretty unlucky in 2023.