Veteran's Shocking Breakout Fueling Houston Astros' Turnaround

By the numbers, the Houston Astros' best hitter this year has been Kyle Tucker, which isn't surprising. Tucker's a two-time All-Star and a former first-round draft pick, plus he's in the heart of his prime at 27 years old. He's been the best hitter in the American League this year, leading the AL in OBP (.417), SLG (.623), OPS+ (197) and total bases (104).

Houston's second-best hitter, however, has been a major surprise. It hasn't been Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman or Yordan Alvarez, and it certainly hasn't been Jose Abreu. Shockingly, it's been little-known outfielder Jake Meyers, which is about as unexpected as Ronel Blanco suddenly emerging as the team's ace.

In fact, Meyers has been one of the best hitters in all of baseball, ranking near the top of the league in a number of Statcast categories such as average exit velocity (92.6 mph) and hard-hit rate (46.5%).

Jake Meyers is now qualified for most of the Statcast leaderboards. pic.twitter.com/ixcJ9MkuCl
— Tony Adams (@adams_at) May 20, 2024

As for traditional stats, Meyers is batting .302/.368/.552 with five home runs, five doubles and 18 RBIs in 107 plate appearances. He's done most of his damage in May, slashing .391/.462/.674 with seven extra-base hits and 10 RBIs while hitting safely in 10 of 14 games this month.

As a result, Meyers has forced his way into Joe Espada's starting lineup on a nightly basis, taking over as the full-time centerfielder despite competition from Mauricio Dubon and hot-hitting rookie Joey Loperfido.

Meyers' breakout has seemingly come out of nowhere. A 13th-round draft pick in 2017, Meyers was solid as a rookie in 2021 (.761 OPS) but regressed badly over the past two seasons, batting .227 both years. He started 2024 poorly as well, batting just .220/.278/.440 through the end of April and showing few signs of improvement outside of a slight power increase.

Now in his fourth season and with over 700 career at-bats under his belt, Meyers finally seems to be figuring things out at the plate. The 27-year-old is hitting the ball harder and striking out far less, slashing his K rate from 25.8% last year to 19.6% this year. His timing has also been better, as only 10.5% of his batted balls have gone to the opposite field (down from 20.3% last year).

He's also contributing outside the batter's box as well, displaying outstanding range in center thanks to his elite speed.

If Meyers keeps it up, he has a chance to be an All-Star for the first time in his career. In the meantime, he's played a major role in helping the Astros turn their season around this month. Houston has gone 9-5 with him in the lineup in May, including 7-4 in his 11 starts.

A month ago, Meyers was merely a fourth outfielder. Now he looks like one of the best players in baseball.