Houston Astros Presence Among Top MLB Outfielder Rankings is Bleak

The Houston Astros weakness in the outfield was recently highlighted by their poor presence among the top MLB outfielder rankings.

Jun 30, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; Houston Astros outfielder Chas McCormick (20), center fielder Jake Meyers (6) and right fielder Trey Cabbage (38) celebrate after defeating New York Mets 10-5 at Citi Field. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros outfield is not known to be a strength of the team and that shines through in the latest top outfielder list.

Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently released his top 25 ranking of the best outfielders across the MLB. While it should be no shocker that Kyle Tucker is the team's only only representative on the list itself, no one else on the team even got close.

Along with the list of 25 itself, 32 other outfielders at least received some recognition in the 'honorable mention' category. None of those 32 others were Astros.

Tucker himself got a lower ranking that he normally would have at No. 24, that is thanks to his injury that forced him to miss 79 games.

While being hurt that large of a chunk of the season would force most players to miss the list entirely, Tucker was so good when healthy that he had to be included.

He posted an incredible .289/.408/.585 slashing line with 23 home runs and 49 RBI. That is a pace of about 46 homers if he played as much as he did last season.

The 27-year-old was in the MVP race before getting hurt and now enters the last year of team control. Getting him an extension should be the top priority, as there are few players in the world that are better than him right now.

It is especially important to keep him around, given how poor the rest of the position group has failed around him.

During his absence, the best Houston outfielder (with at least 70 plate appearances) was Chas McCormick. In that span, McCormick hit for just a .198/.257/.351 slashing line.

While that is a little bit worse than his season overall, his numbers weren't much better.

McCormick, Mauricio Dubon, Jake Meyers and Trey Cabbage made up most of the outfield behind Tucker. None of those players did anything to write home about, at least positively.

Ben Gamel was the best outside of that group. But, in Astros fashion, he quickly got hurt and was sidelined down the stretch.

Bringing in at least one new name to the outfield should absolutely be among their top priorities. Even if Tucker does stick around for longer, they need other players to step up.

Houston could see the debut of their lone Top 100 prospect Jacob Melton next year if he continues to develop at his current rate, so they do have at least one player to look forward to.