The Astros Four Potential Leadoff Hitters Without Jose Altuve

Kyle Tucker

If Dusty Baker wants the same home-run power and base-stealing ability atop the lineup, Kyle Tucker may be who he bats leadoff. And to be fair, Tucker is far too good of a hitter to continue batting fifth.

King Tuck would supply legitimate 30/30 potential from the leadoff spot, and with the banning of the shift and bigger bases tailor made for a player of his skillset, expect his batting average and OPS to both skyrocket.

It's easy to see a world in which Tucker goes from a .257 hitter with an .808 OPS to a .285 hitter with a .900+ OPS. Those numbers sure would be nice at the top of the order.

He only has batted leadoff one time in his career to this point, but even if Altuve hadn't gone down, it was time to move Tucker up in the order. This could be a good trial run to see if Tucker stays in the top third of the lineup. Which he should.
I wrote back in January what the Astros dream lineup should consist of this season, and had Altuve leading off with Bregman batting second and Tucker hitting third.