I really like Cesar Salazar. I hope they give him a legit shot at the backup C job after this season.
https://www.mlb.com/news/astros-2025-opening-day-roster Catchers (2): Yainer Diaz, Victor Caratini First baseman (1): Christian Walker — “Walker is being eased back into baseball drills and should be ready for Opening Day.” Second baseman (1): Mauricio Dubón Shortstop (1): Jeremy Peña Third baseman (1): Isaac Paredes Outfielders (4): Jose Altuve, Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers, Ben Gamel — “ The wild card is Smith, who may force his way onto the roster. Gamel provides a lefty bat off the bench and has the fourth outfield spot for now.” DH (1): Yordan Alvarez Bench/Utility (2): Jon Singleton, Luis Guillorme — “The last bench spot will come down to either Zach Dezenzo or one of the middle infielders -- Rodgers, Guillorme or Short. The club is high on Dezenzo, who has made a few starts in right field, but Houston needs a middle infielder who can play second when Dubon is moving around the diamond. We’ll give the upper hand to Guillorme, a veteran left-handed bat who can play third, short and second base.” Starting pitchers (5): Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco, Spencer Arrighetti, Hayden Wesneski Relief pitchers (8): Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu, Tayler Scott, Bryan King, Forrest Whitley, Luis Contreras, Jalen Beeks, Rafael Montero — Injuries to Kaleb Ort (left oblique) and Dubin (right shoulder inflammation) have kept them out of games this spring and put their status for Opening Day in doubt. The five locks are Hader, Abreu, Scott, Whitley and King, a lefty. The final three spots will be decided in the final two weeks of camp. Nick Hernandez and Contreras are on the 40-man roster and have options, which would make it easy for the club to carry one of them, but probably not both. Other than King and Hader, there are five lefty arms competing for a spot -- Beeks, Bennet Sousa, Steven Okert, Brandon Walter and Blake Weiman. We’ll give the nod to Beeks, who was signed on Saturday. The last spot goes to Montero, who’s not on the roster, but is already counted against the 2025 payroll over fellow non-roster veteran Miguel Castro. Keep an eye on rookie Logan VanWey, who has allowed one run in seven innings this spring.
I assume they are just making assumptions based on gameday. In the Meyers AB, he saw 10 pitches before homering on the 11th one.
If the staff is optimistic about Dezenzo then he should be on the roster over Singleton. I like this opening day lineup/roster: LF Altuve 3B Paredes DH Alvarez 1B Walker C Diaz RF McCormick SS Pena 2B Dubon CF Meyers Bench: Dezenzo, Gamel, Caratini, Guillorme Rotation: Framber, Brown, Blanco, Arrighetti, Wesneski Bullpen: Hader, Abreu, King, Scott, Whitley, Beeks, Contreras, VanWey McCormick gets 6 weeks to prove he’s rebounded. Dubon/Guillorme get 6 weeks to prove they can be an effective 2B platoon. Dezenzo gets work in all 4 corners to make his case for an everyday role. Smith, Whitcomb, Melton, and Matthews get 6 weeks to make their case in AAA that they are long term core pieces. Of course all this gets blown up if the Astros trade for Arenado.
With Melton being so fast, it's pretty much a double every time he gets on base and probably a run if the person behind him gets a hit. He realistically only needs to get on base 30 percent of the time to make him pretty valuable.
