3 Astros players to blame for their slow start in 2023
By Tim Boyle
The Houston Astros are off to a slow start in 2023 and these three players are a big reason why.
The Houston Astros have started slowly and the thought of a World Series hangover may be creeping into the minds of pessimistic fans.
Now 5-6 after their latest win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Astros can see .500 baseball again. That’s not nearly close to what they want to achieve. They have aspirations of repeating as champions.
Finger-pointing is easy when times are tough. It hasn’t been easy for Houston these first few games. It’s these three players who deserve most of the blame.
1) Astros third baseman Alex Bregman is off to a horrific start
Through 52 trips to the plate, Alex Bregman is batting .163/.308/.163. He has yet to go yard and has driven in only two runs thus far. The third baseman is coming off of a down year with Houston in 2022 which is weird to say for a guy who still swatted 23 home runs, 38 doubles, and drove in 93.
Bregman’s expectations were over the moon early on in his career. He lived up to them. The 2018 and 2019 campaigns may have, unfortunately, become outliers for what we can expect from him going forward. He hasn’t come close to matching those numbers again. The average, power, and overall ability to get on base hasn’t been consistent enough. All 7 of Bregman’s hits this year have been singles. He is overdue for even a double down the line.
Fans may recall Bregman getting off to a slow start last season. He was a .238/.356/.408 hitter in the first half. A monstrous August is what helped his overall season numbers get back to where they should be.
Bregman should figure it out. If he doesn’t, Dusty Baker may need to make some permanent adjustments to the lineup.