This one factor should push the Astros to trade Jake Meyers sooner rather than later

The 2025 season was ultimately a disappointment for the Houston Astros, but if there was a silver lining, it was the number of breakout performances the team enjoyed. Hunter Brown emerged as a true Cy Young candidate. Jeremy Peña finally reached his potential and became a star.

In the mix among the breakouts was center fielder Jake Meyers. Meyers posted career bests in batting average (.292) and on-base percentage (.354) while cutting his strikeouts down dramatically. When he broke in 2021, he struck out a ghastly 30.7% of the time. In 2025, his 17.6% K-rate was significantly better than league average. Combine that offensive breakthrough with his typical sterling glove work, and you have a very nice player on your hands, even if he was one of the many who succumbed to long-term injuries in 2025.

Earlier in the offseason, it seemed that the Astros were willing to swap him for starting pitching help. Now, with Tatsuya Imai and Mike Burrows joining the rotation, the club's appetite to deal the 29-year-old seems to have waned.

Dana Brown was quoted as saying, "[If]it’s a really good deal, we may consider it. But right now, Meyers is going to be a guy for us that’s going to play center field, and it looks like he’s the frontline guy as of today.”

That was before the Imai signing, so one can imagine that Houston has even less motivation, but in reality, they should be ready to pull the trigger and ship Meyers out of town.

There's a clear reason why the Astros need to trade Jake Meyers before it's too late

For as much as Meyers improved in 2025, there are still some clear deficiencies in his offensive game. The advanced metrics don't paint as rosy a picture of his performance as the overall results would indicate, and for the most part, he hit like the same guy he's always been.

As you can see in the numbers above, Meyers' 2025 performance in these key metrics was incredibly similar to his 2024 marks, and the 2024 register is representative of the hitter he's been his entire career.

To his credit, Meyers chased out of the zone less and whiffed less frequently, but that alone doesn't justify going from a performance that was 15 percent worse than league average to one that was seven percent better than the average hitter.

While it was a small sample, the Astros already saw Meyers come back down to earth when he returned from a calf injury. While he may have been dealing with some lingering effects, from the date of his return on September 6 onward, he slashed a pitiful .204/.271/.204.

This isn't about power production. This is about making consistent enough hard contact to get base hits. Meyers doesn't need to hit 20-plus homers in a season to be an effective hitter, but he'll need to be able to hit for a high average and draw walks with regularity if he's not going to hit for power, as his .373 SLG from last season indicated.

Furthermore, Houston can truly capitalize on his apparent breakout. Meyers is under team control for two more seasons, is only projected to make about $3.5 million in his first year of arbitration, and has real defensive value.

The market has a dearth of center field options. Cody Bellinger is the top free-agent solution, but he'll be extremely expensive, and his metrics in center weren't as good as his performance in the corners. Beyond him, the drop off is severe, with Harrison Bader likely serving as the prime fallback. The trade market is equally thin. Luis Robert Jr. is probably the prize, though his bat has been as bad as Meyers' was pre-2025, and he comes with a $20 million commitment for 2026.

All of this is to say that the Astros can deal Meyers now for a nice return. The system could sure use more prospect juice, and Meyers could provide that. But if they don't deal him now, they might miss their shot. If he regresses to the mean as his advanced metrics indicate, his value evaporates, and he could find himself on the non-tender block next offseason.

This is Houston's shot, and if the club doesn't take it disappointment awaits.