Each week, we will take a look at the best and not-so-best Astros performances and stories of the week.

3 Up:

Lance McCullers Jr. : What a performance from LMJ last night vs the Red Sox. He goes 7 innings for the first time since 9/21/22. His final line: 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 9 K. NINE! This is Lance’s best start since 5/11/21 – which is the last time he went at least 7 innings and gave up 1 run or fewer. Incredibly encouraging outing from Lance, who maintained his velocity around 93 MPH for the full 7 innings and 96 pitches. Lance was in command all night, and gives hope that the “Old Lance” is still in there.

2. Jose Altuve: What slow start? Altuve had his 42nd 4-hit game last night, including 2 home runs. With that performance, Altuve leads the team in AVG, OBP, OPS, hits, walks, and total bases through 5 games. Every year, there are rumors of his demise. Every year, he proves those rumors to be greatly exaggerated. As an added bonus, he currently has a +4% success rate added defensively.

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3. Christian Walker: Currently leading the team with 4 doubles, Walker has been stinging baseballs in the early going. While last season he really struggled against high velocity, an offseason conditioning program and a mechanical adjustment to his swing have led to excellent results so far against high velocity pitches. Espada moved him up to 5th in the order last night, and he delivered an RBI double. While he will always be a strikeout guy, he has also walked 3 times this season which is a great sign for a guy with a career .325 OBP that early on he is taking to the Astros new philosophy at the plate

3 Down:

Cristian Javier: The velocity issues that have plagued him since returning from Tommy John surgery last year still persist, and Javier lacks the kind of pinpoint control to be effective with a low velocity fastball. Javier likes to live at the top of the zone with his fastball, and that isn’t a place you can miss throwing 91. He still has great movement on his breaking stuff, but as we saw last year with Lance McCullers Jr., it is very hard to be successful as a MLB starter with a fastball no one fears beating them. It allows hitters to sit on breaking pitches knowing the fastball can’t beat them. It also allows them to spit on breaking balls because they are looking for them, so it becomes easier to identify when they will be out of the zone to lay off. Whether or not Javier can rediscover his prior form will be vital to his success. This is a major situation to watch for the Astros.

2. Bryan Abreu: No matter how much the Astros try to downplay things with Abreu, every red flag should be at full mast with him right now. Abreu averaged 97.3 MPH on his fastball in 2025, often hitting 99-100 MPH. When he came out on Sunday throwing 92, everyone in the organization should have been worried. Espada tried to say it was mechanical after the game, but for a guy to lose 5 MPH on his fastball doesn’t seem like mechanics to me. With Hader out likely until at least May, the team really cannot afford to lose Abreu for a long stretch. Maybe it’s just a dead arm period, maybe it’s more. They need to find out definitively and not take any chances with his health. Losing both back of the pen arms, two guys who have been thoroughly dominant, would be an incredibly tough blow to a team that has been ravaged by injuries the last two season.

3. Brice Matthews: Boy that 434 foot HR last night was a TANK, and I was really happy for him to get that blast. However it cannot obfuscate from the bigger picture, which is Brice has struck out 6 times in 9 AB, and he looked shaky in centerfield on Friday night, seeming to have trouble getting jumps on balls. Center field is the easiest of the outfield positions to see the ball clearly and get a good jump, so that was strange that he struggled so much with it Friday night. Cam Smith bailed him out on one play coming across to make a great running catch in right center on a play that should have been Matthews. Matthews let a couple of balls fall in front of him that he didn’t get good reads on as well. I am not down on Brice, but that HR was the lone bright spot on what was a tough week overall for him. Hopefully it gets him going.