Predicting The Houston Astros Final 25-Man Roster

Spring Training is underway and the Houston Astros organization is enjoying the beautiful Florida weather while we toil through the rain here in H-Town. The team has gotten some action in and the performances of some could be changing the narrative already.

Let’s go through the team’s roster to predict the final 25-man roster.

Outfield

George Springer
Colby Rasmus
Jake Marisnick
Robbie Grossman

Breakdown: Springer and Rasmus are locks for the roster, as Springer is one of the faces of the future and Rasmus was one of their highly-touted signings this offseason. Marisnick should surprise few, although he isn’t a lock for the roster. He’s a defensive stalwart in center field and will be a formidable talent if he can learn to swing the bat a little bit.

Robbie Grossman is the biggest surprise here. Grossman is off to a hot start so far in spring, and if he keeps it up, he’ll make the Astros hard-pressed to leave him off of the Opening Day roster. He’s a scary hitter whenever he’s on a hot streak, but he’s never been able to be hot in March and April, which early indications are that he’s on a hot streak now.

Infield

Luis Valbuena
Jed Lowrie
Jose Altuve
Chris Carter
Marwin Gonzalez
Jonathan Villar

Breakdown: Luis Valbuena is another Astro off to a scorching start in Kissimmee, and he could be making Astros fans forget about Matt Dominguez fast. Villar is a surprise here, but the Astros seem to be giving him every chance to make the roster as a utility player. He’s been a defensive liability but I like the potential of Villar coming off the bench. He’s got enough speed to be a pinch runner off of the bench and he has some pop in his bat as well.

The biggest surprises, however, are the names that are left off of this list. Jonathan Singleton is off to a hot start in spring but the Astros are going to have defensive issues if Singleton starts at first and Gattis has to play the outfield. He won’t be in AAA long but he won’t be with Houston Opening Day. Matt Dominguez being left off could surprise some but Gonzalez can play third base and the Astros are trying Villar over there as well.

Catcher

Jason Castro
Hank Conger

Breakdown: The only way this changes is if a major injury or trade happens. Max Stassi will start the year at AAA.

Designated Hitter

Evan Gattis

Breakdown: Evan Gattis is not an outfielder and the Astros shouldn’t try to put him out there regularly. He hasn’t played much at first base either, so DH is the best fit for him to start out the season. Carter will see time here as well, as will Singleton if/when he gets called up.

Starting Rotation

Dallas Keuchel
Collin McHugh
Scott Feldman
Brett Oberholtzer
Dan Straily

Breakdown: Dan Straily is the early odds-on-favorite to grab hold of the final spot in the rotation according to Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. He explains why on Red & Orange Report’s newest podcast. Straily has some major league experience, so that’s an added plus to start off the season. I’d expect to see names like Alex White, Asher Wojciechowski, and Mark Appel challenging Straily for the fifth spot during the regular season though.