4 bold Astros predictions for the 2023 season
By Tim Boyle
Four bold Houston Astros predictions for the upcoming 2023 season.
Defending a championship is never easy. Unless Michael Jordan is on your roster, repeating as a champion in any sport is a difficult thing to achieve. Major League Baseball is especially tough, but if anyone can do it, the Houston Astros are the team.
Most recently, Houston has been to the World Series in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022. They were the winners on the bookend of those trips. Can they add another?
Spring Training games are now underway and it’s time to etch some bold Astros predictions in stone.
1. Bold Astros prediction: 3 batters hit over .300
Not even the 2022 Astros had this many .300+ hitters. The end of the shift will help everyone out even if they’re used to smacking the ball in all directions. In 2023, we can expect three regulars on the roster to end the year with a .300 batting average or better.
The easy choices are the two who did it last season. Jose Altuve hit an even .300. It’s something he has done regularly. Slugger Yordan Alvarez reached the mark for the first time in his young career at .306.
The third choice is tougher. Alex Bregman could have a huge bounce-back year but it’s not him. Jose Abreu traded in power for a .304 batting average last year. He’ll probably sink underneath. It’s an obvious Astros player who will reach this mark.
Michael Brantley is back and while there should be some concerns about his health, hitting .300 is something he can do. Three out of four seasons with the Astros ended with Brantley over this mark. Last year, he settled at .288 in a year plagued by injuries.
Brantley won’t have quite the same number of games played as other key pieces on the Astros roster. With over 400 plate appearances, he’ll give them a nice swan song performance and batting average over .300.