The Houston Astros weren't the favorites to win the AL West for this year's MLB season. However, with the acquisition of Evan Gattis and Colby Rasmus during the offseason, Grantland.com projected that the lineup would generate a little more pop than in 2014.
Gattis, who was acquired from the Atlanta Braves in return for three Astros prospects, hit 20-plus homers for the Braves in each of his last two seasons. Match that with a healthy star outfielder, George Springer, who belted 20 homers last season during his rookie campaign for Houston, and Chris Carter, who was tied with Giancarlo Stanton for second in the league in home runs in 2014—that's a formidable lineup.
But that hasn't been the case for this season's squad. The Astros are ranked 30th in batting average with a .202 mark, and their three star players in Carter, Springer and Gattis have a combined BA of .126. Carter alone is hitting an abysmal .071 in 42 at-bats with zero long balls.
Though it is still early and the Astros' 7-6 record puts them at the top of the AL West, their offense relies heavily on those three bats to be their run producers. They will have to get going at some point in order for the team to remain respectable within its division. As Eric Huysman of FanSided wrote on April 17:
While the Astros are 4-5 this season, it is not because of the bats of George Springer, Evan Gattis, or Chris Carter. They all have a strikeout percentage of over 40% in the early going. If the Astros are staying close to .500 with the with the heart of the order striking out a little less than half the time what will happen when they start hitting?
The Astros' pitching staff, mainly their bullpen, was subpar last season. According to Bless You Boys' Rob Rogacki, "The Astros' bullpen had the highest ERA in baseball for the second consecutive year in 2014, allowing a 4.80 ERA in 468 2/3 innings. This was a stark improvement over the disaster that was 2013, however, as the Astros allowed a semi-respectable 4.11 FIP and threw 65 fewer innings in '14."
But this year, the starting pitching staff and bullpen have hidden the struggles of the Astros offense by sporting a 2.81 ERA, third best in the AL and fifth best overall in MLB.
Moving forward, the Houston Astros aren't too far off from being a respectable force within the American League. With Jose Altuve as their most consistent hitter, they will need Springer, Gattis and Carter, especially, to take their offense to another level.
The Astros have a chance to make some noise, but it will have to come with the bat.
Statistics from ESPN.com
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