Jake Meyers is making everyone eat their words down at Astros spring training

Among fans of the Houston Astros, there were a fair number of those that doubted Jake Meyers and his ability to be a big league regular outfielder. His defense has never been in question, but a career 88 wRC+ and .235 batting average -- with little power to speak of in the majors -- is hard to ignore.

However, Meyers has been out to change the narrative this spring. Once Astros general manager Dana Brown gave Meyers his vote of confidence that he would get the chance to be Houston's starting center fielder, Meyers got to work this offseason to refine his swing and get back to hitting with confidence.

Now, it is all but assured that Meyers will be the team's center fielder in 2024 thanks to a spring training that his doubters won't soon forget.

Jake Meyers' Astros spring training has him poised to break out in 2024

Few would have pegged Meyers to be among the Astros' leaders in OPS during spring training. However, that is exactly what Meyers has done, as his 1.222 OPS ranks fifth among all Houston hitters this spring, regardless of how often they have played. He's second only to Mauricio Dubon's 1.408 OPS amongst Astros hitters who have played in more than four games.

More impressively, Meyers has demonstrated an improved all-around offensive game this spring. His .348/.483/.739 triple-slash has shown his ability to put the ball in play, do so with authority, and be patient enough to draw walks when necessary. His numbers aren't the product of a short home run binge, but instead seemingly of progress across the board.

Meyers believers can't take a victory lap just yet, though. He has been legitimately awesome in camp, but we are still only talking about a very small sample of plate appearances against pitchers who are just getting ramped up and, at times, are of questionable quality. If one is still playing the odds, Meyers' track record should probably still win out.

However, the odds and statistics may not matter here. Meyers has always had the talent to be a big leaguer, and all of the quantitative evidence suggests that he is just finally playing loose and letting that talent speak for itself without worrying about having a roster spot. We probably wouldn't bet a lot on him continuing this into the regular season, but betting against him at this point might not be wise, either.

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