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Houston Astros First Half Report Card
By Eric Cole
Houston Astros Offense: B-
Despite being a huge part of why the Astros have perennially been contenders the last several years, the offense in 2023 has been fairly disappointing in comparison. Houston's position players currently rank 11th in the league by fWAR at 11.2. When you look at wRC+, the results are very similar as the Astros' 103 wRC+ is in a three way tie for 9th in MLB. By batting average, their .249 mark is in the middle of the pack this season.
These aren't bad numbers, per se, and some of it just isn't anyone's fault. Yordan Alvarez was only just recently overtaken as the top offensive performer on the team despite not playing in a game since the second week of June. Michael Brantley also has yet to play in a single game for Houston in 2023 as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery. That is a lot of offensive production to cover for any team.
While Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, and Alex Bregman have led the way offensively, there are certainly some guys that are weighing the numbers down. Jose Abreu has been significantly better lately, but his 78 wRC+ this season is way down from his career norms and definitely less than Houston wanted when they signed Abreu to a three year deal before the season. Martin Maldonado is another offender here as he has been bad on both sides of the ball in 2023 in route to a -0.9 fWAR first half for the Astros.
Overall, the offense has been fine if somewhat unexciting. Some injuries and underperformance have hurt them in the first half to be sure and they could use another power bat in the outfield, but giving Houston a B- feels right for what we have seen. They will probably need more than that to win the division, but we also haven't seen this group of players at their best yet in 2023.