How Houston's anemic offense can improve

SEATTLE -- A year ago, the Astros led the Major Leagues in runs scored, batting average and on-base percentage and they still weren’t the offensive juggernaut they were in 2019. That team rivals the 2000 club as perhaps the greatest offensive team in Astros history.

The Astros were able to lead the league in runs last year despite losing George Springer in free agency, and this year’s club would have to replace another franchise icon in shortstop Carlos Correa. Rookie Jeremy Peña looks like an up-and-coming star as Correa’s replacement, and the Astros have avoided serious injuries from their position-player group, so why does Houston’s 2022 offense feel so anemic?

In losing consecutive games to the Mariners on Friday and Saturday, the Astros saw their starting pitchers give up 12 runs in 10 2/3 innings, but they scored just one run -- on a second-inning groundout Friday by Jose Siri. On Saturday, they were shut out for the fourth time this season, 6-0, at T-Mobile Field.

“We’re having a tough time with runners in scoring position, especially early,” manager Dusty Baker said. “We get the lead and it could have been a different ballgame. We’re getting guys on, especially early in the first inning, but we’re not scoring.”

The Astros have been getting elite starting pitching -- they led the American League in ERA entering Saturday -- and that’s the reason why they’re leading the AL West near the one-third point of the season. But their offense ranks near the middle or bottom-third in the Major Leagues in several key areas.

Houston is averaging 4.1 runs per game (it averaged 5.2 last year) and is hitting just .243 with runners in scoring position. It ranked 18th among the 30 teams in batting average with runners in scoring position after Saturday. The Astros were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position Saturday, including 0-for-2 in the first inning.

The Astros are among the AL leaders in home runs and are 15-0 this year when they hit multiple homers, but only 6-9 when they don’t homer. The long ball has been a big part of their offense because of how infrequently they string hits together. They’ve scored three runs or fewer in more than half (26) of their 47 games.

Several of their key offensive players have yet to find their stride with the bat. Yuli Gurriel, who won the AL batting title last year, is hitting just .226, while taking most of his at-bats in the No. 5 spot in the order. Alex Bregman had two hits Saturday to bump his average up to .239.

Meanwhile, lefty sluggers Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker have been their best run-producers, but Alvarez has a .587 OPS with one homer and four RBIs in his last 13 games, and Tucker has a .179 average with one home and four RBIs in his last nine.

The Astros have gotten very little offensively from their catchers, which isn’t a surprise, but they’re getting spotty production from the center field tandem of Siri and Chas McCormick.

“We’re doing a pretty good job of swinging at pitches we want to swing at,” Bregman explained. “The more line drives we hit and string together, I think the better we’ll be. Just consistency of hitting line drives up and down the lineup will be huge for us. We’ll do a good job with that moving forward.”

One change Baker could consider is moving Peña up in the batting order, perhaps even swapping him with the struggling Gurriel. Peña is slashing .291/.342/.496, while batting primarily seventh and eighth in Houston's lineup.

Bregman, a mainstay in the Astros’ juggernaut lineups in ‘17 and ‘19, believes the offense will hit its stride eventually.

“It’s early and I think over the course of time this offense will be elite,” he said. “We’ve got some work to do to get there, but everyone in here is willing to put in work to get to feeling good and passing the torch to the next guy like we always have done, which has been a staple for this offense. It’s just stringing good at-bats together."