Houston Astros Slugger Has Been Shocking Disappointment to Start Season

The Houston Astros getting off to a 14-13 start in the 2025 MLB regular season is a pretty impressive feat when taking into consideration all of the obstacles they have had to overcome.

During the offseason, they lost two franchise cornerstones. Third baseman Alex Bregman signed with the Boston Red Sox in free agency and right fielder Kyle Tucker was shockingly traded to the Chicago Cubs.

Replacing two players of that caliber is virtually impossible considering the presence they had in the clubhouse and elite production on the field.

To the surprise of no one, the Astros offensive production has slipped trying to compensate for two major losses. It doesn’t help that their big free agent addition, first baseman Christian Walker, has gotten off to an incredibly slow start.

He isn’t the only player struggling out of the gate, with catcher Yainer Diaz producing a 43 OPS+ and .169/.198/.301 slash line.

But, the most shocking slow start has to be designated hitter Yordan Alvarez.

One of the most feared hitters in baseball, he isn’t making the kind of impact that the team has become accusted to over the last few years.

Alvarez has finished top 13 in the MVP voting the last three seasons, making a trip to the All-Star game each time. He is the rare power hitter who isn’t an all-or-nothing player at the plate, willing to take walks and crushing the ball with a beautifully violent swing.

But, something has been missing out of the gate in 2025.

Through his first 109 plate appearance he has an underwhelming .213/.312/.360 slash line with only three home runs and four doubles. He still leads the team with 16 RBI, but he is struggling to consistently square the ball up.

“It's unusual to see a hitter this good have a month this bad. There's nothing that pops up in the metrics other than his hard-hit rate being down. Alvarez just hasn't been squaring the ball up like he usually does,” wrote David Schoenfield of ESPN+ (subscription required), who selected the Astros star as his most disappointing designated hitter through the first month of the season.

It is a team-wide issue not hitting the ball with the same authority in 2025 as in previous years. But Alvarez, the team’s most feared power hitter, slumping in this fashion is rare to witness.

His 45.3% hard-hit rate would be by far the lowest single-season number of his career, with the next closest low being last year at 49.7%.

A home run rate of 2.8% would also be the lowest for a campaign, less than half of his career number of 6.0%. Somewhat surprisingly, this would be the third straight year that his home run rate decreased if it continues at this pace.

The key to Houston remaining in the playoff race in the American League will be Alvarez finding his form as the team is desperate for their top run producer to get on track.

Recommended Articles