Houston Astros: Three guys that need extra playing time down the stretch
By T.A. Mock
Tyler White, DH/1B
You may be thinking, this one is obvious, You may be thinking, he’s already playing a ton. Well, you’re right on both accounts. Tyler White has played in the vast majority of Houston Astros games in recent weeks, as he should. However, he needs to be in the lineup in every single Astros game from here on out.
Since the month of August started, White has been on an absolute tear. He is hitting .316 with eight homers and 26 RBIs. On top of that, his OPS stands at 1.031. That mark is good for second in the AL in that time span behind only JD Martinez, who is an MVP candidate this year.
Those are simply insane numbers, especially for a guy that’s spent the past 2+ years bouncing back and forth between the majors and AAA. White has more than earned his playing time these past 4-5 weeks and he needs to continue to get more.
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Despite initially coming up as a guy that could play third, first, or even left field, White is now pretty much limited to first base and DH. A lot of his time recently has come at DH but, he did get some starts at first while Yuli Gurriel was manning second for an injured Altuve.
White needs to get all of the DH starts over Evan Gattis, as sad as it is to see El Oso Blanco reduced to this role, it’s what’s best for the Astros in this playoff push. White is one of, if not the, hottest bat in this lineup right now and he deserves those ABs. If someone else needs a DH day, AJ Hinch needs to shift guys around to get the Shark in the lineup.