It’s official. The once mighty Astros lineup is below average. According to Fangraphs on this Sunday evening, the team wRC+ is 98, league average being 100. That’s good for 18th in MLB. With almost the same cast of characters, the Astros were first last year, with a 125 rating. From 25% better than average, the Astros have gone to 2% worse in one year.
Let’s look at some of the superstars’ last year’s wRC+ versus this year.
Jose Altuve 2019: 138. 2020: 71
Alex Bregman 2019: 168. 2020: 116
Yuli Gurriel 2019: 132. 2020: 95
Carlos Correa 2019: 143, 2020: 99
George Springer 2019: 156, 2020: 126
Of course “professional hitter” Michael Brantley is on the same track as last year, And Kyle Tucker has been a welcome new contributor in the absence of Yordan Alvarez.