Five Astros That Need to Step Up Without Yordan Alvarez

4 of 5

The Astros may be without Yordan Alvarez, one of the best hitters on the planet, for an extended period of time. At times this season, Alvarez has been their entire offense. If Houston were to lose any offensive player to the IL, needless to say, Alvarez was the one they were least equipped to handle.

His production can't be matched. The Astros can't afford to let the Rangers gain even more ground in the AL West.

Five Astros need to step up in the absence of Yordan Alvarez.

Let's take a look at who these Astros are.

#1 Jose Altuve

The face of the franchise is capable of putting together indescribably impressive hitting streaks. There are stretches of the season each year in which Jose Altuve is impossible to get out. The Astros need that Altuve now.

Altuve finished 2022 as one of the league leaders in OPS. The Astros need him to get back to that number quickly. In his return from IL, Altuve is hitting .262 with a .790 OPS. Those numbers are fine, but the Astros need their catalyst to do more heavy lifting in the absence of Alvarez.

It's an unfair ask to expect him to come off IL and immediately be the Altuve of old, but Houston needs exactly that. If any player can come close to matching Yordan's production, it's Altuve.

#2 José Abreu

José Abreu has looked a little better over the last two weeks, hitting .290 in June with a .774 OPS. In the first two games without Alvarez, Abreu hit his second and third home runs of the season. If the Astros are to weather the storm without Yordan, they'll need Abreu to continue tapping into the power he has recently found again.

A single here and a single there are no longer acceptable for Abreu. The Astros gave him $19 million a year this offseason. A .223 average with a .572 OPS and -1.2 WAR just isn't cutting it. The Astros need the double and home run hitting Abreu to make a resurgence.

#3 Kyle Tucker

Kyle Tucker started the year with a bang, hitting .286 with five home runs and an .859 OPS. He's come back to earth since, with his season average falling to .269 and his OPS down to .778.

Tucker is a notorious slow starter that seemingly hits into bad luck quite often early in the season, but they need him to find his power stroke again quickly. With the Astros struggling to score, they need Tucker on base often and stealing bases when he gets there.

Now bumped up into the cleanup spot, he needs to get the job done driving in Dubón, Altuve and Bregman.

He'll also need to improve his defense, as Chandler Rome wrote about in extensive detail. Last year's Gold Glove winner in right has been a very bad defender this season. With runs coming at a premium in the absence of Yordan, King Tuck will need to do his part in keeping runs off the board.

#4 Dusty Baker

Dusty Baker is maybe the most polarizing name among Astros fans. Yes, he won a ring last year, but the Astros were a loaded team that battled virtually no injuries last season. It was hard to screw that up.

The players in the locker room love him, and he does seem to do a fantastic job of building culture and was a calming voice in the face of scandal.

He was the right man at the right time. He's also been a very, very poor manager this year. Both of these things can be true.

As a few examples--Jeremy Peña has been a top-five hitter in the MLB when he bats second and below average anywhere else in the lineup. Dusty finally slotted him second again, but once Altuve was back, has dropped him to sixth and seventh while batting Dubón leadoff and Altuve second.

Dubón is a stereotypical bottom of the order bat to turn the lineup over. Altuve should be batting leadoff while Peña bats second with runs at a premium. It's indefensible that this hasn't been committed to yet.

The Corey Julks experiment needs to end. He's a great story, but he is the 28th-prospect in the organization for a reason. Julks is a depth piece on the bench, not an everyday starter. Dusty continues writing him and his .680 OPS and 2nd percentile xwOBA as either the left fielder or DH almost every day while Yainer Diaz and Chas McCormick, both far superior offensive options, can't get at-bats.

Julks can't be the primary DH. Diaz and McCormick are far more prone to stringing together quality at-bats. Diaz, Dubón and McCormick need to combine for the bulk of the at-bats between left field and designated hitter.

Julks can be a late game pinch hit option. Which leads to another absolutely indefensible decision this year.

The Astros have 16 pinch hit at-bats this season, least in the MLB. The league average is 40. The Astros carried three catchers on Opening Day so they would have flexibility with a defensive sub after pinch hitting for Martín Maldonado late in games. Needless to say, that hasn't happened.

Dusty needs to wake up and start pinch hitting in leverage situations the way the Blue Jays did when they took three of four from Houston. Let's hope Dusty saw that play out and learned his lesson.

Less than half of the league average cannot be excused. The pitching staff leads the league in ERA. Start pushing runs across late in the game via the pinch hit and use the catchers you're rostering.

And please stop combining off-days. Baker's lineup today didn't include Altuve, Peña or McCormick. All three can't sit at the same time without Yordan. Today's game was practically conceded before it even started. That just can't continue.

The Rangers are going to continue to score runs and have a fantastic starting rotation. It's time Dusty wakes up, sends out the best lineup in the right order, and gives his team a chance to win baseball games.

#5 Dana Brown

Though no fault of his own, a lot of pressure now sits on Dana Brown. Brown inherited the Astros job after the free agents had been signed and had no say in roster construction. But he's now tasked with fixing it.

The offseason money given to José Abreu, Rafael Montero and Michael Brantley has been worth a combned -1.7 WAR. Montero can't get outs, Abreu can't get hits and Brantley can't play.

Even when Yordan was healthy, the offense was bad this year and Brown would likely have needed to find an upgrade. Brown said himself finding a bat would be a priority. With a farm system lacking in depth, he needs to find a way to name a piece like Jorge Soler to shore up what has been a bad offense. The pitching staff has been far too effective to be 5 back in the division.

Brown needs to find an upgrade or two to give his team the best shot at contending for a World Series repeat. It's the hand he was dealt, but Brown may need to bluff his way to the bank, finding a way to turn a weak farm system into gold at the deadline.

Home / Astros News