Young Astros star has quietly turned back into the star fans thought he would be

In 2023 and ‘24, Yainer Diaz looked like he was going to be a building block for the Houston Astros. He hit for both average and power and played solid enough defense behind the plate that it was easy to think about him as a part of the team’s long-term core.

But then things changed at the beginning of this season when the 26-year-old hit .185 through the first month of the season while taking just three walks. Thankfully, it looks like Diaz has put that behind him, as he’s spent the past four months looking like the franchise cornerstone that we expected him to be. 

Young Astros star has quietly turned back into the star fans thought he would be

While Diaz’s resurgence has slowly been building throughout the entire summer, it’s hit overdrive over the last month, as he’s posted a .806 OPS over his last 30 games, which is the sixth-best mark among catchers in that time frame. 

He’s raised his batting average nearly 20 points in that span, and has slugged five home runs and five doubles to go along with 17 RBI. While he’s only walked five times compared to 18 strikeouts across those 30 games, he still has an on-base percentage of .328 and a slugging percentage of .478. You’ll take a lack of walks any day if he’s putting the ball in play with that kind of power and success.

That strong run of play has raised Diaz’s batting average to .257 alongside 18 home runs (which is already more than he hit last season) and 55 RBI. It’s also provided the Astros with some much-needed production while they work through some struggles with the rest of their lineup. 

Even if his hard-hit rate is still 5% lower than it was last year, he’s gotten his barrel rate up to 8.5%, which is higher than it was last year. He’s still crushing fastballs (.311 batting average) and is doing a bit better than offspeed pitches (.222 batting average), which does a bit to offset his struggles against breaking pitches (.207).

Earlier this month, Houston manager Joe Espada added some insight into what he thinks about Diaz’s ability to help the Astros offense. When talking about Diaz, Espada said that they’re at their best when he’s not swinging at balls out of the zone and using the middle of the field. 

It seems like he’s always going to struggle with pitches that break out of the strike zone (first percentile in chase rate and second percentile in walk rate), but is great at punishing mistakes and getting the ball on pitches that are on the fringes of the zone. It may not be perfect, but that should be enough for the Astros. 

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