Walker Injury Leads to Roster Questions
Has fate stepped in to save Jon Singleton's Roster Spot?
Like most Astros fans, I’m bummed about Christian Walker’s injury that may keep him out of the Opening Day lineup.
Walker’s presence on the Astros hasn’t been talked about enough, if you ask me.
He would be an offensive and defensive upgrade at first base, if healthy.
That’s particularly important with defensive downgrades at other positions, notably third base for this conversation.
I’ve long thought first base is one of the most important defensive positions, at the college level where throws are less consistent, but even at the MLB level, where several times a game the first baseman either scoops a low throw or comes off the bag to grab a wide throw and tag the runner as he comes down the line.
Most fans focus on offense when discussing first basemen, and I’m going to talk about offense a good bit, but I think a good defensive first baseman will make the entire infield better, by recording outs that could be ruled errors otherwise.
“Good Guys” Don’t Win Pennants Hitting .145
Jon Singleton is a likable dude and one that I want to succeed, but I questioned his roster spot when Walker was healthy.
Singleton isn’t a very good first baseman, isn’t going to DH over Yordan or Altuve, plays no other position and was a mediocre PH last season.
Non-analytically speaking, I despise the “he has no options left, so we’re keeping him on the MLB roster” routine the Astros seem to utilize from time to time.
It’s like staying with your girlfriend even though you don’t like her anymore because you don’t have a better option.
It’s just weird and a strange way to run a billion-dollar Major League team supposedly competing for a playoff spot.
That doesn’t sound much like a defense of Singleton, but I’m getting there, bear with me.
The popular thought is Singleton can’t hit lefties, mainly because he batted .145 against them in 2024 in an obvious struggle.
What more evidence do you need?
His career has been disjointed and has a strange, atypical 8-year gap and the sample sizes are small, but he hit lefties before 2024, including in 2023.
There’s a crack of hope that Singleton can do better in similar situations this year, at least short term.
Maybe 2024 was an anomaly for Singleton or maybe it’s the new reality, but the Astros have options.
Other Options Abound
Zach Dezenzo is one option, though he didn’t exactly rake against Southpaws in his initial MLB stint last season slashing .143/.182/.143 and striking out 13 times in 21 at-bats.
Yikes.
Perhaps the answer is to carry a third catcher and let Victor Caratini platoon at first, where he started 8 games and played 76 innings last season.
Caratini slashed .333/.391/.421 against left-handers in 57 at-bats, good enough for a 131 OPS+.
Mauricio Dubon is seemingly the answer at every position, so I’m sure he’ll come up, but the guy can only play one position at a time and was mediocre light at best (80 OPS+) against lefties last season.
It’ll likely be a mix-and-match till Walker heals.
Or…
The One Fans Want
I’d be remiss without mentioning Cam Smith here, moving Isaac Paredes to first and putting Smith at third, should he make the team, something that once seemed far-fetched and still may be, but is now reported as a possibility.
Parades has 40 starts and 400 innings at first base in his career.
Smith is tearing the cover off the ball in Florida, including three singles in four trips yesterday and is now batting a cool .636 (11 at-bats) for the spring with a 2.097 OPS.
A decision on Smith will likely come sooner rather than later, even if it’s not made public.
Smith has 11 at-bats and if he’s going to break camp with the Astros he’d likely want to see more against better pitchers as the spring training rosters continue to thin.
The telltale signs should be there. More at-bats for Smith, Paredes seeing time at first and the like.
The lineup watch has commenced and it’s only March 7.