Astros' offense continues May malaise, outfield options are scarce: Takeaways

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Houston’s is unintended and unrelenting. Losing a series to the Twins dropped the injury-ravaged Astros 11 games below .500 and squandered any momentum they may have generated after taking two of three against the Texas Rangers last weekend. “It’s a long season and you know there’s going to be ups and downs,” designated hitter Yordan Alvarez said through an interpreter after Wednesday’s 4-1 loss. “Right now, we’re struggling a little bit. Right now is a down moment, but it’s a long season.” On Wednesday, Alvarez finished hitless. Houston’s limited roster is not constructed to overcome that result. It is an unfair burden to place on Alvarez’s broad shoulders, but it is the realistic state of this reeling offense. His .694 OPS in May is an inauspicious number. It is also the highest of any qualified Houston hitter. The Astros have scored three or fewer runs in 15 of their first 19 May games. Only two lineups have worked fewer walks and just three have more strikeouts. The patience, plate discipline and pass the baton mantra that carried the Astros through April has disappeared during this dismal May. “We’re not really forcing them to give us pitches to hit,” said manager Joe Espada, whose team struck out 15 times on Wednesday. “We need to start controlling more of our at-bats and the outcome of our at-bats. “You go through stretches during the season where you kind of lose your identity of who you are as an offensive club. We have to highlight a few things, make those adjustments and get more quality at-bats back to back.” Solutions and shakeups do not seem imminent. Houston has exhausted what little position player depth it possesses — and has no upper-level prospects performing well enough to even warrant a call-up. One scout recently evaluated Triple-A Sugar Land and mused “there’s not a position player on the entire team.” Any improvement must come from within to reverse these trends. Alvarez must find and don his Superman cape. Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes must seize advantage of being sandwiched around him in the batting order. Any of the team’s young outfielders must show a meaningful step forward. None of that is happening, and, as a result, only the Los Angeles Angels are averaging fewer runs per game this month than Houston. The malaise has coincided with Correa, Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz all sustaining significant injuries, each of which shortened a lineup that didn’t have much length to begin with. Neither Altuve nor Diaz were having dynamic offensive seasons before straining their oblique muscles, but both men are established major-league hitters with a threat to alter a game. They must be circled on scouting reports and pitched to with care. None of their replacements can say the same. Correa had a 122 OPS+ and a .369 on-base percentage when he crumpled to the ground with a ruptured peroneus brevis tendon on May 5. In the 15 games since, Houston has scored 37 runs. Ten of them came in one game. “Injuries are not a secret right now,” Alvarez said. “I think right now we’re struggling a little bit with the approach. I think every guy that comes up here, we have the same approach and try to do stuff at the plate. But like I said, it’s a long season and we’ll get back to where the offense was before.” Only four teams entered Wednesday with a lower OPS from their outfielders than the Astros, who welcomed Jake Meyers back from the injured list on Tuesday, but are still in search of stability at both corner sports. Such uncertainty underscores why Houston scoured the trade market this winter for more established outfielders. The team dangled both Meyers and Paredes in any potential deal that would’ve brought a more permanent solution at its most suspect position. Midway through spring training, general manager Dana Brown even declared he was “not done yet” in his pursuit of outfield help. Fifty-one games later, Brown’s inability to either find or finalize a deal is being felt. That Houston still has no interest in playing Alvarez in left field — a fact Espada reiterated throughout the winter — only exacerbates the problem. Alvarez has started every game of Houston’s season. Only nine of them have been in left field. Presuming Alvarez plays all 162 games, he is on pace to make just 29 starts in the outfield, which would be his fewest in a full season since 2021. That injuries have dwindled Houston’s depth to near nonexistence does impact the rationale. Who, exactly, is forcing Espada’s hand to enter the lineup and push Alvarez to play left field? With Alvarez out of the calculus, the Astros are conducting a corner-outfield carousel of Zach Cole, Cam Smith, Zach Dezenzo and Brice Matthews. The quartet entered play Wednesday with a .622 OPS, 30.8 percent strikeout rate and .271 on-base percentage across 386 plate appearances. That Dezenzo hit fifth on both Monday and Tuesday is indicative of the impossible position Espada and his coaching staff find themselves. That Meyers replaced Dezenzo in the five-hole on Wednesday and struck out three times only furthers the frustration. Other than to say “all will get opportunities to play,” Espada evaded many specifics about how he will parcel playing time now that Meyers is back. The manager really has no other choice. Just seven bullpens average a slower fastball velocity than the Astros, a byproduct of Bryan Abreu’s unforeseen decline and, to a lesser extent, the brief, brutal tenure of Rule 5 pick Roddery Muñoz. Last season, both men averaged at least 96.1 mph on their four-seam fastballs. Ineffectiveness by each reliever this year has left Houston without the sort of power arm present in most bullpens. Perhaps Nate Pearson’s long-awaited activation from the injured list can provide it. During his team debut on Wednesday, Pearson threw the hardest pitch by any Astro this season: a 99.9 mph four-seam fastball that sailed outside of Kody Clemens’ strike zone. Five of the six fastballs Pearson threw were 98 mph or harder. Before he did, the Astros had just 27 pitches all season thrown at least 98 mph. Six of them came from Christian Roa, who is no longer in the organization, and four others are from injured ace Hunter Brown. Velocity is not a sole indicator of success. The Texas Rangers have the sport’s lowest bullpen ERA while being tied for the fourth-slowest fastball velocity. A team Texas is tied with? The Boston Red Sox, whose relievers boast baseball’s second-lowest ERA. The same can be said for Pearson himself. He has always had premier velocity, but problems producing results. According to Baseball Savant, Pearson’s four-seam fastball had a run value of minus-3 last year and minus-5 in 2024. Opponents slugged at least .500 against it in each season. Still, standing 6-foot-6, Pearson provides the sort of physical look and stuff that Houston’s bullpen has lacked. Finding any way to stay around the strike zone and limit damage will value him into leverage situations. “He’s a very valuable asset that we can really use,” Espada said. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms