It was not a good at bat. But he didn’t take 3 obvious strikes looking. He swung and missed on strike one, watch an obvious ball, then looked at one down the middle, and then got rung up on a perfect pitch that painted the outside of the box. That 3rd pitch is the only real moment he made a glaring mistake. Considering how sporadic his playing time has been, Dezenzo has shown pretty well. He has been a league average bat and his xwOBA is .339 which is very good (that would make him on par with how good Yainer Diaz has been in his mlb career). Dezenzo warrants more playing time, not less imho.
I agree he should not be playing everyday. But should he be playing in a game with Yordan on IL and Walker out with a sore hand? He has the highest BB% and ISO on the team and a wRC+ of 120 in May. Of course, only Rodgers has a higher K rate so there is that. K rate is exactly the part of his game that should improve with PAs. His power potential is exciting. He is currently one of 11 playable position players on this roster so needs to play a fair amount.
The irony is that the 9-hole has been the most productive spot in the lineup with an 0.847 OPS. Only 10 less RBI's compared to the 3-hole despite 37 less plate appearances.
I'm not sure where you get your numbers. Paredes has a higher BB%. Yainer, Walker, Pena, Paredes, Altuve, Cam and Yordan all have higher ISOs (most of the roster). He's really not a good power source so far. He's on pace for like 12 HR given a full season of AB. He's doing well taking walks and barreling the ball, but it's not resulting in a lot of power or even much exit velocity. I think he will get there, but it hasn't been an impressive start.
One thing worth noting about Dezenzo is that despite being 25, he has not really had very much time to develop. He got himself on the radar by hitting well in High A and AA in his first full pro season in 2023. Then he was hurt for a big part of last season and didn’t start playing until June; he only played 47 games before getting called up. On top of that he’s playing a new position (he played all of 3 games in the outfield in the minors). Dezenzo is not a Cam Smith level prospect. But he does have a very high ceiling with plus plus power potential to go with plus running speed and a plus arm. The question will be how his plate discipline and contact profile evolves, and those are things that only prove out with a large sample of regular playing time. This roster may be too deep for him to get it, but he warrants it. If I were an MLB team (Astros or otherwise), I would value Dezenzo akin to a prospect ranked in the 75-120 range in the league.
Chas has done nothing to warrant more playing time. He was great in 2023. Dusty wasted his career year. Maybe Dusty broke him? Maybe things are different if he got everyday playing time in 2023? We will never know, but like Pedro Leon, his window is gone. 2023 / 2025 Sprint speed: 28.2 / 26.2 * and before Tomstro talks about how Chas was playing with a hurt hamstring in 2024, why was his sprint speed 28.7 if he was playing hurt? Hard hit %: 38.8% / 27.3% Avg EV: 88 mph / 85.8 mph Weak contact: 6.2% / 12.1% Chase rate: 30.2% / 32.4% Whiff %: 29.4% / 32.0% He looks fat and slow. I think he was an overachiever with marginal skills. When he wasn't given the everyday job in 2023 eventhough he deserved it and earned it, he stopped overachieving.
Hmmm. I’ve noticed that his on base % is 4th on the team. He leads the team in sacrifices too (4 sacrifice bunts) He hit a monster hr that just went foul in his last game and he was robbed of a hr in a start or 2 before that. Also, in his last start, he had an RBI single. He’s done pretty well with the scarcity of playing time he is afforded. Definitely “playable”. What a stupid, axe-grinding thing to say.
" hit a monster hr that just went foul" That's called a foul ball, not a hr. "Was robbed of a hr in a start or 2 before that" If you are talking about the fly out right after Meyers hit the infield fly for a HR in Tampa, that was only a HR in 15 of 30 parks with an expected BA of .110 and was caught in the field of play. The fielder did not rob him of a hr. You are just looking for sporadic plays to justify your point. But I am the one saying stupid things.
Yes you are. Someone who barely missed 2 home runs in his last 2 starts, along with a sac fly and 2 singles is definitely “playable”. Let’s not forget, he’s also had actual success in his career to refer to. So yeah, he has done a good job with his 4 at bats a week.
No response to my pointing out your incorrect stats. And this attempt to characterize Chas's 2025 with a handful of ABs as a sample size, when you know it's not nearly enough of sample and it's based on very sporadic ABs. It all brings to mind the quote from Mark Twain, "lies, damn lies, and statistics."
Almost hit I 2 hr is totally different than "hit a hr" butit was foul And "was robbed of a hr" that was simply caught in the field if play. Oh, and the reason he leads the team in sacrifices bunts is because nobody trusts him to actually drive the run home or make a productive out by actually swinging.
Sorry. I missed it. Paredes 11.8% BB rate, Dezenzo 14.5% so I have no idea what you are talking about. As for ISO, I completely missed Paredes. I was wrong, Dezenzo's ISO is 2nd best on the team since May 1st, not best. My bad. And absolutely, I agree that Chas has a small sample size and they can get very misleading. However I see no reason he deserves more playing time and have no confidence that it would help. He has 320 PAs since 2023 and has been miserable.
