2 weeks Ago
Scoring runs has been a struggle for the Houston Astros in the early going of the 2025 MLB regular season. They are averaging only 3.67 runs per game, which is 24th in baseball.
A team slash line of .222/.299/.
331 has been recorded, which ranks 25th, 23rd and 27th in the league, respectively. Their OPS+ of 85 is well below the league average of 100, as virtually the entire team is mired in a slump to begin the campaign. Left fielder Jose Altuve, third baseman Isaac Paredes, center fielder Jake Meyers and right fielder Cam Smith are the only four positional players, out of 13 to make an appearance this season, who have OPS+ numbers in the triple digits.
Manufacturing runs consistently has been a real issue for the team, scoring three or fewer in 15 out of 21 contests. The league average for runs per game is 4.31, making it a small miracle the team is 10-11 at this point and not in a worse position.
While the offense has struggled as a whole, there is one aspect that has impressed manager Joe Espada to this point; their base running. Heading into spring training, he wanted to see his team improve when it came to aggressiveness on the bases. It was an area they struggled in mightily in 2024, but have shown great improvements in 2025.
“We made it a priority in spring training, and we are running the bases aggressively,” Espada said Saturday, via Chandler Rome of The Athletic (subscription required). “I am very happy on that side of our game. We’re really putting pressure on the defense.
” The extra bases taken percentage that Baseball Reference uses takes into account when base runners advance more than one base on singles and more than two bases on a double. Last year, the Astros were not good in this metric, as their 36% was tied with the New York Yankees for last in the MLB. Through their first 20 games this season, Houston bumped that number up to 53%; there are only four teams with a higher percentage according to Rome.
Over at FanGraphs, they have the BsR metric, which takes into account stolen bases, advancements, caught stealing and when outs are made by players running the bases. The Astros were abysmal in this statistic in 2024 with a -12.8, which was the third worst in the MLB.
So far this year, they are +0.4, a drastic improvement. To this point, the players are buying in and benefiting from some of the changes to the coaching staff.
The biggest was hiring Tony Perezchica away from the Arizona Diamondbacks to become their third base coach. The Diamondbacks were consistently one of the best base running teams in baseball with him on the staff, and Houston is seeing firsthand the impact he can provide. Shortstop Jeremy Pena is one of six players in baseball who has a 100% extra base taken rate when play began on Sunday.
If he could improve the .302 on-base percentage he owns, he could showcase that base running more consistently. He has run through stop signs from Perezchica twice, embodying the aggressiveness his coaches want to see on the basepaths to help jumpstart this offense.
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