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

By James Zeankowski

Jul 24, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) celebrates with designated hitter George Springer (4) and shortstop Carlos Correa (1) after hitting a home run during the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 24, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) celebrates with designated hitter George Springer (4) and shortstop Carlos Correa (1) after hitting a home run during the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 23, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros designated hitter Evan Gattis (11) celebrates with shortstop Carlos Correa (1) after scoring a run during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 23, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros designated hitter Evan Gattis (11) celebrates with shortstop Carlos Correa (1) after scoring a run during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Beltran, Gattis and McCann are the ONLY players that need starts at DH!

In addition to the need for more playing time for these three players, they are the big bats that will share the DH role three ways.

That’s because the three of them have a combined career slugging percentage of .478.

Beltran has the highest in his career at .491, and he and McCann also have silver sluggers and All-Star appearances under their belts to go with their veteran presence.

But having been in the league as long as they have, neither will be able to be out in the field as much as they used to.

Enter Evan Gattis. Many critics will bash the Big White Bear from getting any DH time at all, after batting only .219 at that position last season.

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But the truth is, he is not going to be a glorified bench player OR the odd man out for playing time.

Especially, since he has led this Houston Astros ball club in home runs the past two seasons he has been here in Houston.

And lest many forget, he had an absolutely stellar second half post All-Star Break in 2016. (.288/.358/.594)

Quite solid, considering what he is now going to get in his salary for 2017. ($5.2 million, which is cheap for his elite level of power production!)

El Oso Blanco may not get as many DH starts as last year, since Beltran still figures to get the majority of time there.

But he will not be kept away from them entirely, much to some fans’ collective disappointments.

Plus, he will also get more starts behind the plate this next season to platoon with McCann. More in-depth analysis on that in a future post.

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