Lucas Spence’s monster final regular-season series to help nail down the AL West title was arguably the biggest contribution the Astros got from a rotating cast of center fielders in 2026.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Eighth in a series on the Houston Astros‘ 2026 season, which ended with an AL West title but a sweep in the opening round of the playoffs.
Stability proved nearly as elusive in center field as in left for the Houston Astros this year. Eight different players started in center. None appeared in as many as 40 games there.
Nor was the position more productive. Astros center fielders combined to rank 25th in the majors in OPS and 29th in wins above replacement per Baseball Reference. FanGraphs placed them 24th in WAR at the position.
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Houston demoted its opening day center fielder to Triple-A and acquired another at the trade deadline who spent the second half hampered by a wrist injury. A question mark sits in the middle of the Astros outfield as a result.
What went right
A few bright spots surfaced. Lucas Spence provided one in the season’s final week, driving in nine runs in five games to help the Astros secure a playoff spot after being recalled from Triple-A. Overall, Spence posted a .218/.317/.509 slash line in 63 major-league plate appearances after debuting in July.
Defensively, Brice Matthews looked comfortable in center field after expanding to the outfield in spring training. Matthews, the 2023 first-round draft pick, rated plus-1 runs saved in 270 major-league innings in center field per Sports Info Solutions, and plus-4 outs above average per Statcast. A left knee injury sidelined Matthews after the All-Star break, though, and offensively he totaled a .587 OPS in 84 games.
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Of players who started in center field, Taylor Trammell totaled the highest OPS there, with an .847 mark in his 100 plate appearances. Trammell also accrued minus-5 defensive runs saved in center per Sports Info Solutions, contributing to Houston’s overall minus-4 mark at the position.
Jake Meyers began the season as the Astros’ starting center fielder but after being sidelined with an injury and struggling, found himself demoted to Triple-A.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
What went wrong
Houston started five different center fielders within its first 26 games. Those included Trammell, who began the season at Triple-A, and Daniel Johnson, who signed a minor-league deal in April. Turnover reflected some early injuries, but ultimately no center fielder produced enough to claim the job.
Opening day center fielder Jake Meyers missed five weeks to an oblique injury and when healthy posted a .594 OPS over 57 major-league games, a step back from his modest offensive breakthrough in 2025. Meyers was optioned to Triple-A in early July. Joey Loperfido, Matthews and Zach Cole all compiled an OPS of .606 or lower in their games in center field. Spence struggled in his initial call-up in July.
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On Aug. 3, the Astros acquired center fielder Daulton Varsho from Toronto for pitcher Spencer Arrighetti, aiming to address their paltry outfield production. Varsho batted .172 with a .535 OPS in his 41 games with the Astros and ended the season on the injured list with a wrist ailment that he said arose before the trade.
Strikeouts were a major problem for Brice Matthews in 2026.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Number to note
0.2: WAR compiled by Astros center fielders in 2026, per Baseball Reference.
Only the Royals extracted a lower bWAR from their center fielders this season than the Astros. No other team had as many players appear at the position, illustrating the instability Houston endured there.
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Meyers appeared to ease it in 2025, when he batted a career-best .292 with a .727 OPS. But he could not sustain that uptick in this season’s first half. Meyers’ hard-hit rate plummeted by 11% and his chase rate jumped nearly 9% from last year. His .268 on-base percentage ranked 188th out of 207 American League hitters with at least 150 plate appearances.
Matthews, who posted a .255 OBP, was among the players with a lower one. Contact remained an issue for Matthews, who had a 36% whiff rate — the MLB rate was 25.1% — and a 31.8% strikeout rate. Trammell struck out at a 32.2% clip and batted .162 after the All-Star break. Varsho had a .224 on-base percentage with Houston and led the team in starts in center field despite his late arrival.
Daulton Varsho is headed to free agency, which could make him just a rental for the Astros after being acquired at the trade deadline.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Contract status
Varsho is set to become a free agent and will hit the market following arthroscopic wrist surgery. Varsho said last month that cysts in his left wrist had caused pain and inflammation that impacted his ability to swing a bat. The Astros announced Sept. 30 that he had undergone the arthroscopic procedure and did not provide a timeline for his recovery.
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Meyers is entering his final year of salary arbitration eligibility and projected by MLB Trade Rumors to receive $3.6 million next season. That figure and Meyers’ descent on Houston’s outfield hierarchy may make him a non-tender candidate. Worth noting is that Meyers ended the year sidelined by a fractured left knee, the result of a foul ball.
Trammell is arb-eligible for a second time and projected by MLB Trade Rumors to receive $1.5 million next season. Matthews, Spence, Loperfido and Cole are all in their pre-arbitration years.
Outfield prospect Kevin Alvarez represented the Astros in the MLB All-Star Futures Game in Philadelphia.
Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
In the minors
Multiple prospects joined Houston’s center field mix this year. Matthews began the season as the Astros’ third-ranked prospect by Baseball America, then shed his prospect status while playing in 84 major-league games. An infielder upon entering Houston’s system, Matthews’ aptitude in the outfield creates the question of where his defensive future lies.
Cole, who had an eye-opening debut stint in 2025, entered spring training with an avenue to a roster spot but did not make enough contact to seize it. He did play 19 major-league games this season, striking out in 21 of 53 plate appearances, and batted .200 with a 39.3% strikeout rate at Triple-A.
Outfield prospects Spence and Joseph Sullivan were both invited to major-league spring training after finishing last season at Double-A. Spence took the bigger leap, debuting in July and returning with an impactful final week that led to his starting in center field in the wild-card playoff series. Sullivan posted a .718 OPS in 80 games at Double-A but did not play after July 19 due to injury.
Anthony Huezo, the Astros’ 10th-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, made his most starts in center field while posting 22 home runs and 46 stolen bases in 109 games at Single- and High-A. Houston named Huezo, 20, its minor-league baserunner of the year. Kevin Alvarez, the 18-year-old ranked the Astros’ best overall prospect by MLB Pipeline, played primarily center field at Single-A Fayetteville.
Trent Grisham is part of a thin free-agent class of center fielders.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Key question
Is a center field solution for 2027 in the Astros system?
Meyers and Loperfido were both in Houston’s opening-day outfield this season but demoted together to Triple-A in early July. Both are under team control for 2027, but their handling in this year’s second half leaves unclear how they fit into future plans. Meyers was recalled for two brief stints in which he started only one game. Loperfido made the wild-card roster as a reserve outfielder and did not play.
Spence may have positioned himself to vie for a role next spring with his impactful final week. Counting on the 23-year-old to be the primary center fielder would seem a gamble, though, due simply to lack of upper-level experience. Spence has taken 277 plate appearances above Double-A. A left-handed hitter, he has a career .191 average against left-handed pitching in the minors.
Matthews, meanwhile, has struggled to sustain flashes with the bat, with his 280 plate appearances in the majors yielding a .195/.250/.352 slash line and a 33.6% strikeout rate. He has posted a lower OPS against left-handers (.553) than righties (.628), as well, and while the sample is relatively small, those splits aren’t conducive to Matthews being part of a platoon.
If the Astros look outside, the projected free-agent market in center field this winter appears relatively thin. Trent Grisham, TJ Friedl, Cedric Mullins and Varsho are among the regulars slated to be available (Mullins and Tampa Bay have a mutual option for 2027). Luis Robert Jr. and Myles Straw could become free agents if their teams decline club options. Exploring the trade market is also a possibility.
Summary
However they address it, the Astros enter this offseason lacking clarity in center field. No player who appeared there in 2026 staked an outright claim to the job going forward, and no position produced a lower bWAR for Houston. The outlook there appears wide open.
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