The Houston Astros had several battles for Opening Day Roster spots, but for some players, emerging victorious is only a temporary win. For others, it’s just the first step in proving they belong.
This is the same story every year. Some players who make it do so only under circumstances and know that they’re on borrowed time. Others might have gotten in by default and must continue to prove themselves.
For Houston, there are a few players in each camp and four in particular who stand out as players who are on borrowed time unless they do something drastic to change their fortunes.
Brice Matthews, Astros infielder/ outfielder
The conditions that led Brice Matthews to make the Opening Day roster are interesting ones. The Astros clearly felt that the top prospect was ready, but for most of the spring, he was considered a long shot because there was no clear pathway for him to carve out a spot in the starting lineup. He made the team anyway.
Joe Espada’s preference would be to keep the top prospects down in the minors unless they can get regular at-bats. But the way things shook out, Houston didn’t seem to have much of a choice but to promote the 24-year-old. But having him serve as some sort of super utility man doesn’t seem like a viable path toward development. There could come a point where they believe the lack of regular at-bats is too detrimental to his future to continue the experiment.
There’s another question that Matthews will have to answer. There have been concerns about his ability to consistently make contact in the zone, posting a 76.2% zone contact rate last year at Sugar Land. That resulted in a 27.9% strikeout rate. Unless there’s some improvement there at the highest level, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get sent down to work on that part of his game, and again, the best medicine for these potential contact woes is regular at-bats.
Christian Roa, Astros reliever
Christian Roa is a nice story of a hometown kid who seemingly found his way in the minors once he converted to the bullpen full-time. He impressed this spring with a 0.93 ERA over 9.2 innings, but the main reason he made the team was due to the sheer number of injuries.
Josh Hader, Enyel De Los Santos, and Bennett Sousa all seem to be on track for speedy returns from the IL, meaning the writing is on the wall for Roa. One more thing working against Roa are his minor-league options, which make him one of the easiest players on the bubble to boot from the big league roster without worrying about losing an asset.
Roddery Muñoz, Astros reliever
By virtue of being a Rule 5 pick, Roddery Muñoz might be slightly more secure than Roa, but not by much. Also like Roa, Muñoz has worked as a starter in the past and can give Houston length out of the bullpen. That will be especially important during the early-season gauntlet, which sees the Astros playing 26 games over 28 days in April.
The 26-year-old will likely dodge the first bullet — Spencer Arrighetti getting called up once the Astros go to a six-man rotation on April 10 — but how much longer can he hang around once the veteran bullpen arms start returning to action is a big question.
Joey Loperfido, Astros outfielder
The Astros’ quest for a lefty bat to add balance to their lineup took them to an interesting place. Reuniting with Joey Loperfido, a year and a half after trading him away for Yusei Kikuchi, is probably not how they imagined their pursuit going when the offseason began.
Loperfido is going to need to prove that he can consistently hit to hang onto his roster spot. Zach Cole may have fumbled his spring, but he made a lot of hard contact with little to show for it. If he goes on a tear in Sugar Land and Loperfido has a prolonged slump, it might motivate Houston to make a change. Otherwise, Loperfido could find himself on thin ice come the trade deadline.