Pitchers and catchers will be in Florida beginning February 13 and position players on February 18 for Astros Spring Training. Believe it or not, the 2025 season is right around the corner. This has been one of the more tumultuous winters for a franchise that has remained remarkably stable over the last decade thanks to a talented farm system and good team management.
And while this offseason didn’t exactly blow things up, there will be a lot of new faces replacing older ones and some real intrigue for young players trying to make the roster.
So, we are going to take a look at some of the position battles going into camp. We already discussed the pitching rotation. Let’s take a look at the infield.
Starters
1B – Christian Walker
2B – Jose Altuve
3B – Isaac Paredes
SS – Jeremy Peña
C – Yainer Diaz
Backups
Mauricio Dubon
Victor Caratini
Jon Singleton
Interesting Young Players
Zach Dezenzo
Shay Whitcomb
No part of the Astros roster has experienced more turnover in the past few seasons than the infield. Yet, Jose Altuve remains and is now the longest tenured Astro on the roster. Altuve continues to be a productive second baseman, despite discussions of his potential move to left field if Alex Bregman were to return. His range has become a bit more limited in recent years, but he still hits well and often.
Returning with him are Diaz, who has quickly become one of the better catchers in the American League, and Peña, who improved his consistency at the plate in 2024 even if his power number fell off.
Bregman, however, is not. He now joins a growing list of former Astros infielders who were key to the franchise’s success but have moved on: George Springer, Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel, Martin Maldonado. Altuve really, really wanted Bregman to return, but that wasn’t in the cards, so the Astros did what they had to do by making moves to shore up third base.
They did so by acquiring Paredes as part of the Kyle Tucker deal. Paredes was a player the team targeted at last year’s trade deadline, but he wound up in Chicago with the Cubs. At just 25, he is still improving and has the potential to be an impactful everyday player as he was in 2023 when he had an .830 OPS with 31 homers. His pull-side swing should be perfect for the confines of Daikin Park and the short porch in left field.
In addition, the Astros added slugger Christian Walker, a three-time Gold Glover at first base. He is a massive upgrade over Singleton and Jose Abreu defensively and a significant offensive boost as well. In Arizona last year, he hit .251 with 26 home runs. Like Paredes, he should benefit from the distance to the Crawford boxes.
Also returning are veterans in Dubon, who could play every spot on the field, Caratini, a valuable switch hitter off the bench, and one of the few remaining lefty bats (and styling bat flippers) in Singleton.
But, don’t sleep on Dezenzo or Whitcomb. Dezenzo, in particular, has a chance to stick if he can play on the infield and in the outfield. He has legit power and speed on the bases. In his limited time with the major league club last season, he had a couple homers and eight RBIs. Whitcomb struggled a bit in his 20 games with the Astros in 2024, but he has shown pop in the minors (25 homers in 2024) and can play a couple different spots in the infield. It might come down to one of the two of them on the roster along with who might be able to play the most varied positions.
