Astros takeaways: Yordan Alvarez fallout continues, Jake Meyers adjusts swing and more

New York Times

3 days ago

HOUSTON — Fallout from a dysfunctional Saturday spilled into Sunday at Daikin Park, where prior to the finale of a 10-game homestand, the Houston Astros honored Dr. Thomas Mehlhoff for 35 years of service to the organization with an on-field ceremony and framed jersey.
Alex Bregman, George Springer and Jeff Bagwell all sent taped remarks praising Mehlhoff: one of the team's physicians who, according to an in-stadium announcement, handles most of the Astros' hand and wrist injuries.
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Ironic isn't strong enough to describe the scene — a coincidental confluence of events that epitomized a whirlwind weekend in Houston. The team completed a 10-game homestand 7-3 and split four games with the Tampa Bay Rays, but both accomplishments seemed secondary to the saga of a slugger's right hand that — after a month — is now known to be fractured.
Many questions remain about the Astros' handling of Yordan Alvarez's situation. Those with the medical expertise to answer them won't be made available any time soon, leaving baseball men to double as orthopedic specialists.
General manager Dana Brown did his best during the team's pregame radio show, when play-by-play man Robert Ford asked whether, in hindsight, the organization wished it had done anything different during Alvarez's recovery.
'When he had the first injury, in terms of the muscle strain in the hand, maybe we shouldn't have let him fight through that,' Brown said. 'He said it wasn't the normal pain that he usually gets in his hand, so he thought maybe he could grind through it and it was just soreness.
'Maybe at that point we probably should have shut him down, maybe for a week, giving it a chance to heal and not let him try to fight through it and potentially cause more damage.'
Brown's candor again calls into question every aspect of the team's return-to-play procedure. His predecessor, James Click, panned it before his dismissal in 2022. Now, Brown must decide what, if anything, to do about it.
At the end of last season, Troy Snitker sent a list of goals to Jake Meyers, a defensive wizard with decreasing offensive production. Some suggested mechanical tweaks. Others offered advice for extending at-bats.
Meyers carried his hitting coach's counsel into a pivotal winter. He slashed .190/.256/.307 across his final 362 plate appearances of 2024. Brown barely mentioned Meyers throughout a transformative offseason spent searching for an outfielder.
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Instead, Brown has found the best version of Meyers, a soft-spoken Midwesterner morphing into a lineup mainstay. Only two qualified Astros have a higher OPS than Meyers' .753 mark. Just Jeremy Peña has a higher batting average than Meyers' .292 clip.
Meyers raised it by 42 points across 109 prolific May plate appearances. According to FanGraphs, only four American League outfielders were worth more wins above replacement than Meyers last month: Aaron Judge, Ryan O'Hearn, Addison Barger and Cody Bellinger.
Contact is allowing Meyers to keep that company. Pitchers are throwing him more strikes than any season of his major-league career and Meyers is making contact on 86.9 percent of the swings he takes against them. His career average is 82 percent.
Much of the improvement can be traced to a swing adjustment listed as part of Snitker's offseason goals. Meyers corrected a career-long tendency to initiate a swing with his top hand, which created a steep entrance into the strike zone.
An inconsistent bat path and poor plate coverage ensued. Meyers chased outside the zone at a 31.2 percent rate last season. He whiffed 27 percent of the time, too — the fourth straight season in which he posted at least a 27 percent whiff rate.
'I learned how to initiate the bat with my hands and, because I'm athletic and strong, I can still get the bat to the ball,' Meyers said. 'You get to the big leagues and they're throwing a bunch of different pitches moving a bunch of different ways, it makes it extremely hard to do that and redirect where you're going.'
This winter, Meyers focused on a more efficient way to start his swing. He took one-handed swings using his top hand, trying to stay level while his barrel entered the strike zone. Gradually, after getting comfortable, he introduced a second hand and saw a swing he didn't need to initiate.
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'He's quieted that down to get into some better positions, but he's coming out of those positions cleaner as well,' Snitker said. 'The sequence is better. The way he's rotating, first, and then the path that follows that is cleaner.'
Meyers is whiffing 21.3 percent of the time this season and chasing outside the strike zone at just a 22.9 percent clip. His aggression remains — Meyers is seeing just 3.59 pitches per plate appearance and has absurd numbers against the first pitch of a plate appearance — but has cut down on chasing in the middle of at-bats, allowing for some longer battles.
Whether Meyers can continue this surge will be fascinating. Meyers also had a magnificent first two months last season, slashing .289/.360/.489 in his first 151 plate appearances. The freefall that followed won't be repeated, Meyers believes.
'The way I've gone about these first two months is very different than last year and the years before,' Meyers said. 'It will be sustainable because of the things I'm focusing on and the things I've set in the offseason and spring training and through these couple months, I know I can be confident it will work.'
During pregame stretch on Saturday night in Albuquerque, Jacob Melton saw something peculiar. Teammate Tommy Sacco Jr. walked toward the group with his glove. Manager Mickey Storey followed.
Melton knew Sacco wasn't in Triple-A Sugar Land's starting lineup. That he came to work out with those who were could mean only one thing. That Storey joined him only confirmed Melton's suspicion that he could be headed to the show.
'Before (Storey) even said anything, I kind of had a feeling this is what it was,' Melton said with a smile. 'It was surreal. I don't think I really have the words to describe how I felt in that moment.'
Melton made his major-league debut during Sunday's 1-0 win against the Rays, starting in center field and finishing 1-for-3 from the eighth spot in Houston's batting order.

Melton's role moving forward will evolve, though it's difficult to envision him getting everyday at-bats. Brown intimated as much prior to Sunday's game, acknowledging the myriad health issues that have plagued Melton this season — first a back problem that started in spring training and then a groin issue that affected him in April.
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'We're taking it a little slow with the groin. We were playing him four days a week in the minor leagues and it kind of fits here,' Brown told the team's pregame radio show.
'He's probably going to come up here and face right-handers, gives us that left-hand bat we've been looking for. We don't have to play him here every day, but we're gradually going to break him in and see what he can do.'
Production can alter any plans of a semi-platoon. Melton could mash his way into more regular at-bats, but as it stands, he isn't a better option than any of the Astros' three everyday outfielders: Meyers, Jose Altuve and Cam Smith. Melton is a natural center fielder, but the team is more than comfortable playing him in either corner.
Being without both Alvarez and Zach Dezenzo does open more designated hitter at-bats, which will benefit Melton in the short term. That he hits left-handed will benefit an entire ballclub that lacks any semblance of balance.
No team in baseball entered Sunday with fewer plate appearances from a left-handed hitter than the Astros. Manager Joe Espada has given a major-league low 21 pinch-hit plate appearances all season, a byproduct of having an all-right-handed bench that can't be used to create any platoon advantage.
Melton's mere presence can change that. Having him on the roster will lessen Houston's need to play switch-hitting backup catcher Victor Caratini every day just for balance and deploy him more in late-game, pinch-hit situations. Bear in mind, Caratini went 8-for-19 in pinch-hit at-bats last season.
Finding Alvarez's hand fracture — and realizing he'll be sidelined for longer — 'nudged' the Astros to promote Melton, Brown said. It stands to reason that the lack of external left-handed bats available did, too.
Prior to the season, The Athletic's Keith Law ranked Melton as the organization's second-best prospect behind Smith, who has since exceeded prospect status. In 2023, Brown fought to keep Melton out of the Justin Verlander trade, instead parting with fellow outfielders Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford.
(Top photo of Yordan Alvarez: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)