The Baseball Scholar

Houston Astros All-Time Roster

Dave Franks
14–21 minutes

Houston Astros All-Time Player Roster (1962–2025)

This roster includes every player who appeared in a major league season for the Houston Astros franchise from 1962 through 2025, including Houston Colt 45’s and Houston Astros, listed alphabetically by last name with years played for franchise and primary position.

Longest-Tenured Houston Astros Players

All-Time Player Roster (Alphabetical)

A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

All underlying data used in this analysis is available in The Baseball Scholar Data Library.

3 responses to “Houston Astros All-Time Roster”

  1. andyt Avatar
    andyt

    Um… Have you never heard of Doug Rader? He was WAAAAAAAYYYYYY better than Ensberg. Seriously.

    No JR Richard? No Dave Smith? No Joe Morgan? No Shane Reynolds(99-77, 3.85 ERA in the late 90’s)? No Joe Sambito? No Ken Forsch?

    It’s a decent list, but you got 3B dead wrong. Take out that one season by Ensberg when it looks like he may have been taking steroids (the year he hit 36 HRs was so much better than any other season he had…), and it’s a joke to pick him over the Red Rooster. Rader was a GG third baseman, just a great fielder with a tremendous arm. and a decent hitter, especially when you consider he played in the Astrodome, a terrible hitter’s park. And you also could have chosen Caminiti. But he left for more $$$ and we know he did roids, so… Rader should have been your pick.

    a) He won 5 straight GG’s. Only 6 guys won more GGs at 3B than Rader did.
    b) He hit 128 HRs and drove in 600 runs in 7.5 seasons as the Astros regular 3B man. Those are decent #’s in the Astrodome in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He hit 63 HRs in his career in the Dome, 92 on the road. Like all Astrodome hitters, his #’s were diminished for it.
    c) Ensberg was the regular 3B for only 4 seasons, and only had 500 ABs once. Yes, his numbers in Minute Maid during the big hitting steroids era were decent, but really, in context, almost indistinguishable with Rader’s. He only had one season where he drove in more than 70 runs. Doug did it 5 times, four of which he drove in close to 90.
    d) Enos Cabell has a better case than Ensberg as well. He was a key contributor on the Astros first playoff team in 1980, and his #’s were surely diminished by hitting in the Dome in the late 70’s when the fences were moved out. To hit .278 under those conditions was pretty impressive. He hit .268 with only 15 HRs in the Astrodome, .288 with 45 HRs in all other parks in his career. He wasn’t a great hitter, but he was better than his #’s made him look because he played half his games in the Astrodome.

    Leaving J.R. Richard off the list for SP is also bad. He’s simply the best pitcher we’ve ever had. He led the league in ERA in 1979, and was even better in 1980, but had a massive stroke and almost died. I love Nolan, but JR was better. I’d leave off Nolan and Wilson, and add Joe Niekro (144-116 with a 3.16 ERA) and J R. (107-71 3.15 ERA)

    For closer, I’m astonished you use Harris and Devinski over Dave Smith, Ken Forsch and Joe Sambito.

    Dave Smith was our closer for 6 years and had 199 saves in his career in Houston, and made 2 All Star games.
    Forsch pitched for the Astros for 11 years, with 50 saves, and tossed 9 shutouts with a career 3.18 ERA. He started 153 games and relieved in 268. He was a very valuable middle reliever/spot starter for his 10 FULL seasons.

    Sambito was our closer in our first two playoff runs in 1980-81. He was an all star in 1979, and was 5th in Cy Young voting in 1980. He saved 72 games in 6 full seasons. Those were more impressive #’s back then, before RPs averaged less than an inning per game, as they do now. Joe averaged about 1.4 innings per appearance from 1978-1984.

    Again, I think most of your picks are good ones, But those first playoff teams in 1980-81 were dang good teams built on pitching and defense. I think those pitchers from those teams deserve some credit. Shane Reynolds was the staff ace of the late 90’s playoff teams.

    Doug Rader is one of the most underrated 3B of all time.

    Peace

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  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    As for Dave Smith – when they came back from commercial break in ’86 and I saw his face instead of Charlie Kerfeld’s on the mound, my heart sank. That memory has replaced all others of Smith for me.

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      LOL… while I remember that too, that one bad outing can’t diminish the hundreds of games he shut the door for us. We wouldn’t have been in those playoffs without Dave. Plus, I blame Lanier for bringing Smith in to follow Knepper. The Mets were so happy to see a fastball after 6 innings of that huge sweeping curve of Bob’s…

      You put Nolan on the team even though he got annihilated in game 5 against the Phillies in 1980 (6 runs in 7 innings). Why single out Smith? And Bagwell (.226 BA) and Biggio (.234 BA) SUCKED in the postseason. That didn’t keep them off your team.

      Again, good team either way, but I think I could improve it. 😉

      Peace

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