The Astros hit a new low with Monday’s 3-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners. They are now 10 games below .500 after crossing the quarter pole of the season on a three-game losing streak.
That skid comes on the heels of a 16-game stretch in which the Astros managed to play .500 baseball against the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers despite an injured list as long as a CVS receipt.
There’s been some good and a lot of bad from the first 42 games of the season, so let’s hand out some awards.
MVP- Yordan Alvarez
After a lost 2025 season in which he posted a career-low 117 OPS+ over 199 plate appearances, Alvarez has largely regained the form that made him one of baseball’s most feared hitters, despite a recent slump to begin May.
Alvarez slashed .356/.462/.737 in March and April to earn American League Player of the Month honors for the first time since September 2023. He has followed that up with a .184/.262/.289 line in May, but his presence in a depleted Astros lineup continues to elevate the hitters around him.
Even with a rough 10-game stretch in May, Alvarez’s 1.044 OPS ranks second in baseball, and he is tied for fifth in home runs.
Most importantly for the Astros, Alvarez has started all 42 games this season.
LVP- Yainer Diaz
Three years ago, Diaz looked like a future All-Star. Now, he looks like a potential non-tender candidate if things don’t turn around. Diaz, who landed on the IL 10 days ago with a left oblique strain, was performing at a sub-replacement level before the injury. The 27-year-old slashed .238/.255/.347 with a 67 OPS+ in 26 games, and his OPS has declined from .846 in 2023 to .766 in 2024 and .701 this season.
Diaz’s struggles at the plate wouldn’t be nearly as glaring if he were playing well defensively, but he has continued to regress in that area as well.
In 2024, Diaz’s first season as the Astros’ primary catcher, he ranked in the top quartile in blocks above average and caught stealing above average, though he was below average in framing and pop time, per Baseball Savant. He declined in three of those four metrics last season and has regressed in all four this year, even after the Astros brought in new catching coach Tim Cossins from the Baltimore Orioles.
Cy Young- Spencer Arrighetti
Arrighetti opened the season in Sugar Land due to a numbers crunch, but the move allowed him to stay on a starter’s routine and hit the ground running when he joined the Astros rotation on April 15. He struck out 10 Rockies in his debut while allowing just one run over six innings. Arrighetti won his first four starts before defensive miscues caught up with him Saturday in Cincinnati.
The 26-year-old is 4-1 with a 1.88 ERA. While his 13.6% walk rate has prevented him from pitching deeper into games, Arrighetti has still completed five innings in each of his five starts, which has been crucial for a team missing three starters from its Opening Day rotation.
Opposing hitters are 4 for 33 with 20 strikeouts with a 50.9% whiff rate against Arrighetti’s curveball this season, and they are just 2 for 16 against his sweeper.
Arrighetti’s 2025 season was torpedoed by a fractured thumb suffered in an April batting practice accident. After returning to make five starts in August, Arrighetti was shut down in September due to elbow inflammation. He’s bounced back nicely, even while starting the season in Sugar Land.
Cy Yuck- Brian Abreu
Abreu went from closer looking to cash in after the season to unusable in the span of just a few weeks.
He became the first Astros reliever since 2017 to allow at least one earned run in six straight games in the same season, and while he’s only been scored on twice in the eight outing since, everything has felt like a struggle
Abreu has a 9.24 ERA through 14 games this season, and his strikeout rate has dipped from 35.5% to 30.3% while his walk rate has shot up to 24.2% from 10.5%, and his fastball velocity is down 2.3 MPH.
Read the full article here
