Houston Astros: Top 30 players in franchise history

17. Alan Ashby, C, 1979 – 1989

Alan Ashby began his career in Cleveland before Toronto selected him in their expansion draft when they joined the league in the mid-70s. Toronto then traded Ashby to Houston prior to the 1978 season. Ashby proceeded to play 11 years for the Astros.

Ashby caught some of the most prolific strikeout artists of his era during his tenure as an Astro. He performed a thankless job splendidly and was a field general for the Astros. He wasn’t particularly adept offensively.

When healthy, Ashby could launch 10 or so homers, he had a great eye and had a very selective approach to the plate, never striking out more than 70 times in a season. He hit for a decently high average a couple of times but even that was rare.

Ashby wasn’t amazing defensively and he didn’t have the best arm but he was an incredible general on the field. He was a very solid pitch framer and could call a game extremely well. Ashby deserves a good amount of the credit his pitchers saw in the 80s.