How are Trey Mancini and Christian Vázquez Adapting to the Houston Astros?

The Houston Astros made three major trade deadline acquisitions. Looking to match a strong offense with the best pitching staff in the American League, Houston's two biggest acquisitions were Trey Mancini and Christian Vázquez.

Ranked as the AL's fifth-highest scoring offense at the deadline, that Astros have improved to the league's fourth-best offense as of Sept. 12, but the production they have gotten from their two deadline stars has not matched their billing, or the prospect haul Houston gave up to get them.

With a floundering Yuli Gurriel starting everyday at first base, general manager James Click's first priority was finding a player to improve that position. Houston first baseman carried the AL's third-lowest OPS in the AL on Aug. 2.

Mancini was a reliable pick up. He solid defense coupled with above-average offense meant he would almost assuredly be better than Gurriel, but manager Dusty Baker has not always seen things that way.

Since the trade, Baker has consistently started Gurriel at first, citing his "Gold Glove" defense at the position. Unfortunately, Gurriel is not the defensive player he once was, in 2022 his DRS is -4 and his OAA is an even more grisly -8, third percentile MLB-wide.

Gurriel's offense has further declined since Mancini was acquired. He's failed to hit a home run since Jul. 1, and his OPS since the deadline is .570. Gurriel's BABIP is .277, far too close to his career number of .295 to simply be a spell of bad luck.

Nevertheless, Gurriel continues to get starts over Mancini, who plays better defense and offense, though even Mancini wants for better production at the plate. His slash of .206/.299/.441 since the deadline is not ideal for a first baseman. Yet, it would somehow rank sixth among AL first baseman with 80 or more plate appearances in that time.

Mancini is due for better production though, his .222 BABIP is nearly 100 points below his career average of .315. While his OPS and BABIP are down, his walk-rate and home run-rate are up, indicating that Mancini is due for a breakout very soon.

If you are gambling on Astros' top performers for the postseason, Mancini would be a good bet.

Vázquez on the other hand, like every other Astros' catcher in 2022, has floundered. Houston sports the lowest team OPS for catchers in MLB by a wide margin, falling 22 points shy of 29th place Pittsburgh. The Astros' figure falls at a measly .526.

No Astros catcher, not Martín Maldonado, nor Korey Lee, Jason Castro or even the ever consistent Vázquez has cracked an OPS of .600 with the Astros in 2022.

Prior to the trade, Vázquez was enjoying the best full offensive season of his career. He was slashing .282/.327/.432 with eight home runs and a 109 OPS+. Since joining Houston those numbers have fallen to .246/.290/.246 with a 56 OPS+.

In 69 plate appearances, Vázquez has failed to get an extra-base hit. While his defense has been characteristically solid, the Astros already had a defense-first backstop in Maldonado, they acquired Vázquez to be a hitter, not increase their surplus of good defenders.

It doesn't seem like Vazquez is trending up either. Though he's begun to hit the ball slightly harder, his BABIP has remained at .286, just 17 points off his career mark of .303.

Even mediocre production from Vázquez at the bottom of the lineup would deepen the Astros by a considerable amount, offering the club a taste of what it has lacked since 2020: consistent offensive production from a starting catcher.

Houston gave up two solid prospects to acquire Vázquez for just two months. It is a trade that could come back to haunt Click and the Astros if Vázquez does not turn into the hitter he was promised to be.

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