Nine stats to be excited about the Astros’ 2023 season

With 2022 behind us, baseball is officially around the corner. The Astros have made moves and one can imagine they’re ready to face the 2023 season to defend their championship.

On Crawfish Boxes, we love numbers. With 83 days to go before Opening Day, here are nine encouraging stats to raise our expectations about what the Astros’ new season could be like.

Let’s get down to business…

• José Abreu has 863 career RBI’s, second-most in the Major Leagues since his debut (2014) and most in the American League.
• Over Yordan Álvarez’s first two full seasons, he averages 32 doubles, 35 homers, and 100 runs batted in.
• Alex Bregman had a 1.002 OPS with runners in scoring position in 2022 (179 plate appearances) – that trailed only Pete Alonso (1.099), Freddie Freeman (1.079), and José Ramírez (1.073) in the MLB among hitters with at least 170 PA’s in that scenario.
• Framber Valdez led the Majors in groundball percentage last year with a 66.5% mark. When he made opponents hit the ball to the ground, they slashed .236/.236/.247/.482 over 369 plate appearances.
• Without Justin Verlander, the Astros’ rotation ERA would have been 3.22 in 2022 (277 earned runs over 775 innings). That 3.22 ERA would have finished second around the Majors.
• Cristian Javier registered a 33.2 strikeout percentage but, unfortunately, he didn’t finish the season with enough innings pitched. Had he qualified, that mark would have finished second in the MLB, tied with Shohei Ohtani and below only Carlos Rodón (33.4%).
• Thanks to an outstanding showing in ‘22, Kyle Tucker will begin the 2023 season as only the fourth player in Astros history to record a 25-25 season, along with César Cedeño (1973, 1974), Carl Everett (1999), and Jeff Bagwell (1997, 1999).
• Including the postseason, Jeremy Pena has 56 hits across his last 44 games slashing .308/.330/.533 with nine doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, and 26 ribbies.
• After averaging .289/.355/.480 with 20 homers and a .834 OPS between 2018 and 2021, José Altuve slashed .300/.387/.533 with 28 four-baggers and a .921 OPS in 604 plate appearances.