Astros Shake Roster by Waiving Chas McCormick, Luis Garcia, Three Others

The Houston Astros are moving on from five players on their 40-man roster, including a fan favorite outfielder and starting pitcher.

Houston Astros center fielder Chas McCormick (20) makes a diving catch in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros are not messing around with their 40-man roster, as they reportedly made five moves on Tuesday that created space — and sacrificed players Astros fans know and love.

Per Chandler Rome at The Athletic on X (formerly Twitter), the Astros will place five players on outright waivers — outfielder Chas McCormick, pitcher Luis Garcia, pitcher John Rooney, outfielder Kennedy Corona and outfielder Pedro Leon. McCormick and Corona are listed on the Astros’ 40-man roster at its team site. The other three are not. Houston has not made an official announcement, and the moves are not on the team’s transaction log.

The moves follow four Astros electing free agency on Sunday — pitcher Framber Valdez, pitcher Craig Kimbrel, infielder Brendan Rodgers and catcher Victor Caratini.

Losing Chas McCormick

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

McCormick is a 30-year-old outfielder who was drafted in the 21st round of the 2017 MLB draft out of Division III Millersville and made his MLB debut at the start of the 2021 season. It’s not easy for a D-III player to make the Majors, but McCormick managed parts of five seasons with Houston, including a role in the franchise’s American League pennant team in 2021 and their World Series championship in 2022.

Assuming Houston doesn’t re-sign him, he’ll wrap up his Astros career with a slash of 247/.321/.413 with 56 home runs and 196 RBI. His best season was in 2023, when he slashed .273/.353/.489 with 22 home runs and 70 RBI. But he’s batted .211 across the last two seasons in which he dealt with injuries and had a negative bWAR.

He was also arbitration-eligible, so by waiving him that gets Houston off the hook in the arbitration process. Whoever signs McCormick will inherit his four years of service time and his remaining arbitration seasons.

Garcia was also arbitration eligible, and Houston is cutting ties with him after he underwent Tommy John surgery for a second time in three seasons after he finally returned from his 2023 surgery in the second half of the season. He’s not expected to pitch until 2027.

He started two games in his return to the Astros, as he went 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA in 7.1 innings. Before the injury, he broke into the Majors in 2020, pitching in five games. Like McCormick, Garcia was a significant part of the 2021 and 2022 World Series teams, with his 2022 season including a 15-8 record with a 3.72 ERA.

With the Astros he went 29-19 with a 3.60 ERA. He has four years of service time and is eligible for arbitration.