Houston Astros: Why The Young Core Of Players Don’t Need To DH!

The Houston Astros will have their fill on lineup choices once the season starts on Monday. However, the young core need not see the DH role at all in 2017.

Stay with me on this, fans of the Houston Astros! Many of you out there are seeing these headlines and are tempted to come at me with the metaphorical torch and pitchforks again.

But before you do, may I ask that you slow down for a minute!

I did a piece back in January about the positional players, and how they can all get a MINIMUM of 300 AB’s this season. This includes the projected bench players as well. Most notably, Jake Marisnick as the utilty outfielder, and Marwin Gonzalez as the utility infielder.

However, when you look at the young core of players in George Springer, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, the DH role should not even include them in the discussion. Why, you ask? Well, there are a couple of reasons for this:

1. These four are already projected to be the top of the lineup most consistently throughout the season.

2. With their positions alone, this core is already guaranteed anywhere between 140-150 games, or well over 500 AB’s.

3. Despite their physical age and enthusiasm, there is no need for any particular players to get greedy, since there are already going to be three players on the bench in each game that should be playing, per Skipper A.J. Hinch.

With that third notion specifically in mind, let’s now take a look at how the designated hitter role for the Houston Astros SHOULD be divided up in 2017.