Houston Astros: The Positional Players’ Path to 300 At-Bats

Despite the lingering questions surrounding the Houston Astros lineup, there are ways for each positional player to get at least 300 at-bats in 2017.

Despite the lingering questions surrounding the Houston Astros lineup, there are ways for each positional player to get at least 300 at-bats in 2017.

Skipper A.J. Hinch was certainly given a lot of toys this past Christmas from Jeff Lunhow and Jim Crane.

Those came in the form of veteran player acquisitions via trades and free agent signings to give the Houston Astros positional players enough depth to go around.

Claiming Nori Aoki off waivers from Seattle, trading for Brian McCann from New York, and signing free agents Josh Reddick and Carlos Beltran from Los Angeles and Texas respectively.

These moves have given a much needed boost to the already stacked offensive lineup.

But the problem that continues to be on the minds of most is this: How does and how will playing time be divided up among players?

Who makes the 25-man roster, and who rides the bench or stays down in Triple A?

Back last month, in a post I wrote for my Evan Gattis fan blog, The White Bear Chronicles, I came up with my own lineup projections, much to my opposition to sites like Fangraphs and ZIPS.