The 2022 MLB season is off to a weird start.
Hitters are slugging .369 with the newly-imposed universal designated hitter rule and with pitchers not being able to use foreign stuff on the ball.
The Baltimore Orioles have the best pitching staff in baseball, and the New York Yankees’ offense is looking like a below-average unit.
The Houston Astros, the best and most productive lineup/offense last year, is also showing its worst version in the early stages.
“After last night, the Astros are slashing .199/.282/.355 as a team. Only the Royals, White Sox and Reds have a lower on-base percentage. Only the Twins, DBacks and Reds have a lower team batting average,” Chandler Rome of The Houston Chronicle tweeted.
After last night, the Astros are slashing .199/.282/.355 as a team. Only the Royals, White Sox and Reds have a lower on-base percentage. Only the Twins, DBacks and Reds have a lower team batting average.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) April 21, 2022
The Astros Should Rebound In No Time
It’s incredibly hard to believe that a team with Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, Michael Brantley, and Yuli Gurriel is struggling so much offensively, but the sample size is extremely small, too.
And, as a reminder, the team was without Alvarez for a few games last week, and will be without Altuve for a few days.
The absence of Carlos Correa, who signed a free agent deal in Minnesota, certainly hurts, but his replacement Jeremy Pena is actually the highest-ranked player in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) with 1.0 so far.
He is slashing .308/.364/.590, with two homers in 11 games.
The rest of the mentioned names will probably pick it up at some point, especially Altuve, Alvarez, Bregman, and Tucker.
But so far, their performance has been highly disappointing.
The pitching is actually what keeps the Astros afloat, but their offense should be able to return to its dominating ways sooner rather than later.
NEXT: Jake Odorizzi May Be Out Of Time With The Astros