6 Astros players whose struggles in September have hurt the team's playoff chances

Having gone 9-13 so far in the month of September, it is safe to say that the final month of the season has been very disappointing for the Houston Astros. After they finally wrestled the division lead away from the Rangers and Mariners, they allowed the Rangers to play their way back into the race and Houston now finds themselves 2.5 games back in the AL West going into the final week of the season.

So who is to blame for the Astros' struggles in September? Well, that isn't as easy a question to answer as one might think. The pitching staff has born the brunt of the blame and Dusty Baker hasn't exactly pushed the right buttons with his game management, but it isn't like there haven't been some hitters that have stunk things up as well. So, we must dig deeper to find the biggest offenders.

Here are 6 Astros players whose struggles in September have hurt the team's playoff chances

The focus here is mostly going to be on players that had actual expectations of playing well. At this point, no one should be surprised that Martin Maldonado can't hit, so he doesn't make the list even though he clearly hasn't been pulling his weight. Some of these players haven't been terrible, but generally have been expected to do more and have come up short over the 2023 season's final month. It will make sense as this goes along.

Let's take a look at some of the Astros players that have come up short in September when the team really needed them.

Jeremy Peña

Overall, Jeremy Peña's sophomore campaign has been decent enough. He remains an excellent defender and his 2023 slash line of .261/.321/.381 and 96 wRC+ isn't that far off from the numbers he put up during his rookie season. However, the month of September has seen some of the more troubling offensive trends for him magnified.

While Jeremy is hitting .277 this month, his power output has continued to drop off in a big way with zero homers this month (he only has 10 this season overall) and he is slugging just .337 in September. When you combine that with his pre-existing refusal to draw walks, you have a guy who has posted just an 80 wRC+ during the season's final month when Houston could have really used the offensive boost.

Hunter Brown

Young pitchers will very often break your heart and Hunter Brown has been no exception in 2023. After putting up some really promising numbers in the first half of the season, Brown has fallen off in the second half and September in particular has been a nightmarish month for him.

In five starts this month, Hunter has posted a 9.14 ERA in 21.2 innings of work. While he has kept striking out guys at a high rate in September, he has also has a walk rate of 4.57 BB/9 and when you combine all of those free base runners with a tendency to give up hard contact, bad things tend to happen.

Jose Urquidy

In fairness to Urquidy, he has been dealt a rough hand in 2023. After a shoulder injury cost him a chunk of time this season, Jose has not been the same pitcher he once was since returning. The results were so rough that the team has used him exclusively as a reliever in September, but that hasn't made the results much better.

In four appearances in September, Urquidy has put up a shockingly bad 8.71 ERA in 10.1 innings of work with an 8.39 FIP that points to these struggles not just the result of bad luck in a small sample. At this point, it is fair to wonder whether or not the Astros should include him on their playoff roster, although they may not have a choice given how much their pitching depth has been tested this season.