Veteran’s Shocking Breakout Fuels Houston Astros’ Turnaround

By the numbers, the Houston Astros’ best hitter this year has been Kyle Tucker, which isn’t surprising. Tucker is a two-time All-Star and a former first-round pick, and he’s in the midst of his prime at age 27. He was the best hitter in the American League this year, leading the AL in OBP (.417), SLG (.623), OPS+ (197) and total bases (104).

Houston’s second-best hitter was a major surprise, however. He’s not Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman or Yordan Alvarez, and he’s certainly not Jose Abreu. Surprisingly, it’s little-known outfielder Jake Meyers, which is about as unexpected as Ronel Blanco suddenly emerging as the team’s ace.

In fact, Meyers has been one of the best hitters in all of baseball, ranking near the top of the league in a number of Statcast categories such as average exit velocity (92.6 mph) and strikeout rate hard (46.5%).

When it comes to traditional stats, Meyers is batting .302/.368/.552 with five homers, five doubles and 18 RBIs in 107 plate appearances. He did most of his damage in May, hitting .391/.462/.674 with seven extra-base hits and 10 RBIs while hitting safely in 10 of 14 games this month.

As a result, Meyers worked his way into Joe Espada’s starting lineup on a nightly basis, taking over as the full-time center despite competition from Mauricio Dubon and hard-hitting rookie Joey Loperfido.

Meyers’ escape seemed to come out of nowhere. A 13th-round pick in 2017, Meyers was solid as a rookie in 2021 (.761 OPS), but has regressed significantly over the past two seasons, hitting .227 both years. He also started 2024 poorly, hitting just .220/.278/.440 through the end of April and showing few signs of improvement outside of a slight increase in power.

Now in his fourth season and with more than 700 career at-bats under his belt, Meyers finally seems to be figuring things out at the plate. The 27-year-old hits the ball harder and strikes out much less, reducing his K rate from 25.8% last year to 19.6% this year. His timing has also been better, as only 10.5% of his batted balls have gone to the opposite field (compared to 20.3% last year).

He also contributes outside the batter’s box, displaying exceptional range in the middle thanks to his elite speed.

If Meyers continues this momentum, he has a chance to become an All-Star for the first time in his career. In the meantime, he played a major role in helping the Astros turn around their season this month. Houston is 9-5 with him in the lineup in May, including 7-4 in his 11 starts.

A month ago, Meyers was just a fourth outfielder. He now looks like one of the best players in baseball.