2025 Projection: Chas McCormick

The spotlight has found Chas whether he wants it or not

I’ve been a Chas apologist since he burst onto the scene in 2021 and I believe Dusty Baker underutilized and treated McCormick unfairly.

Over his first three seasons, the Astros got 7.7 fWAR, a .259/.336/.449 slash, 50 home runs, 120 wRC+ and one spectacular, perhaps World Series-saving catch from a 21st-round pick out of Millersville University.

Last season they got…well, nothing.

An oft-injured McCormick limped to a .211/.271/.306 slash in 242 at-bats while recording a putrid 66 wRC+.

The trade of Kyle Tucker to the Cubs has placed McCormick squarely in the cross-hairs of fans and media and fairly or not he will be one of the faces of the Astros’ success or failure in 2025.

Big shoes to fill indeed.

It’s not realistic to believe Chas will fully replace Tucker’s production, but it’s not unrealistic that McCormick can be closer to his 2023 numbers (.273/.353/.489 with 22 home runs and 70 RBI, 133 wRC+, 3.3 fWAR) than his 2024 results.

Help for McCormick will likely be needed and where that comes from is a big question mark as Spring Training opens.

The numbers above are based on a projected 314 at-bats and would scale if McCormick gets additional playing time, with Steamer projecting .239/.313/.390 over 421 at-bats with 13 HR and 47 RBI.

A projected 1.0 fWAR seems low assuming McCormick is healthy, but perhaps that’s the fan in me and the eternal hope of spring, because both my numbers and Steamer’s projections are close to aligning around that number.

As always, thanks for reading!

Projected fWAR: 1.0

Projected Win Shares: 2.2