Houston Astros All-Time Roster

June 7, 2018

2–3 minutes

Updated 02/24/2022

This is the Houston Astros all-time roster. The roster consists of one starter and one bench player for each infield position and one starter and one bench player for each outfield position. Hitters had to have a minimum of 1,500 plate appearances. For pitching, I selected five starting pitchers and three relief pitchers. Starting pitchers had to start at least 75 games during their time with the franchise to qualify. Relief pitchers had to accumulate a minimum of 150 innings pitched to be eligible.

Catcher – Jason Castro

Age: 23, 25 – 29
Years: 2010, 2012 – 2016

Jason Castro
WAR	wRC+	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
10.0	94	617	2266	2018	240	469	114	9	62	212	5	2	215	621	.232	.310	.390	.700

First Base – Jeff Bagwell

Age: 23 – 37
Years: 1991 – 2005

Jeff Bagwell
WAR	wRC+	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
79.9	149	2150	9431	7797	1517	2314	488	32	449	1529	202	78	1401	1558	.297	.412	.540	.952

Second Base – Craig Biggio

Age: 22 – 41
Years: 1988 – 2007

Craig Biggio
WAR	wRC+	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
65.4	115	2850	12503	10876	1844	3060	668	55	291	1175	414	124	1160	1753	.281	.363	.433	.796

Third Base – Alex Bregman

Age: 22 – 30
Years: 2016 – 2024

Alex Bregman
WAR	wRC+	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
39.6	135	1111	4832	4157	694	1132	265	18	191	663	42	14	576	646	.272	.366	.483	.848

Shortstop – Carlos Correa

Age: 20 – 26
Years: 2015 – 2021

Carlos Correa
WAR	wRC+	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
34.1	128	752	3223	2824	438	781	162	8	133	489	33	8	347	660	.277	.356	.481	.837

Outfield – Cesar Cedeno

Age: 19 – 30
Years: 1970 – 1981

Cesar Cedeno
WAR	wRC+	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
49.8	128	1512	6389	5732	890	1659	343	55	163	778	487	149	534	735	.289	.353	.454	.807

Outfield – Lance Berkman

Age: 23 – 34
Years: 1999 – 2010

Lance Berkman
WAR	wRC+	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
48.1	146	1592	6713	5560	1008	1648	375	26	326	1090	82	42	1040	1121	.296	.410	.549	.959

Outfield – Jimmy Wynn

Age: 21 – 31
Years: 1963 – 1973

Jimmy Wynn
WAR	wRC+	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
41.5	131	1426	6013	5063	829	1291	228	32	223	719	180	77	847	1088	.255	.362	.445	.807

Starting Pitcher – Roy Oswalt

Age: 23 – 32
Years: 2001 – 2010

Roy Oswalt
WAR	ERA-	G	GS	W	L	ERA	IP	CG	SHO	SV	R	ER	BB	SO	K%	WHIP
45.7	76	303	291	143	82	3.24	1932.1	19	7	0	747	696	446	1593	20.0.%	1.20

Starting Pitcher – Justin Verlander

Age: 34 – 37, 39-40
Years: 2017 – 2020, 2022 – 2023

Justin Verlander
WAR	ERA-	G	GS	W	L	ERA	IP	CG	SHO	SV	R	ER	BB	SO	K%	WHIP
22.7	56	113	113	68	22	2.36	720	3	2	0	205	189	128	888	32.1%	0.86

Starting Pitcher – Larry Dierker

Age: 17 – 29
Years: 1964 – 1976

Larry Dierker
WAR	ERA-	G	GS	W	L	ERA	IP	CG	SHO	SV	R	ER	BB	SO	K%	WHIP
34.3	96	345	320	137	117	3.28	2294.1	106	25	1	927	837	695	1487	15.7%	1.21

Starting Pitcher – Roger Clemens

Age: 41 – 43
Years: 2004 – 2006

Roger Clemens
WAR	ERA-	G	GS	W	L	ERA	IP	CG	SHO	SV	R	ER	BB	SO	K%	WHIP
16.7	55	84	84	38	18	2.40	539	1	0	0	161	144	170	505	23.3%	1.07

Starting Pitcher – Mike Scott

Age: 28 – 36
Years: 1983 – 1991

Mike Scott
WAR	ERA-	G	GS	W	L	ERA	IP	CG	SHO	SV	R	ER	BB	SO	K%	WHIP
24.8	94	263	259	110	81	3.30	1704	42	21	0	694	625	505	1318	18.9%	1.14

Relief Pitcher – Billy Wagner

Age: 23 – 31
Years: 1995 – 2003

Billy Wagner
WAR	ERA-	G	GS	W	L	ERA	IP	CG	SHO	SV	R	ER	BB	SO	K%	WHIP
16.1	59	464	0	26	29	2.53	504.1	0	0	225	149	142	191	694	34.2%	1.04

Relief Pitcher – Octavio Dotel

Age: 26 – 30
Years: 2000 – 2004

Octavio Dotel
WAR	ERA-	G	GS	W	L	ERA	IP	CG	SHO	SV	R	ER	BB	SO	K%	WHIP
11	71	302	20	22	24	3.25	449	0	0	42	176	162	181	552	29.5%	1.17

Relief Pitcher – Ken Forsch

Age: 23 – 33
Years: 1970 – 1980

Ken Forsch
WAR	ERA-	G	GS	W	L	ERA	IP	CG	SHO	SV	R	ER	BB	SO	K%	WHIP
19.0	92	421	153	78	81	3.18	1493.2	36	9	50	587	528	428	815	13.1%	1.25

Bench

Catcher – Alan Ashby, 1979 – 1989
First Base – Glenn Davis, 1984 – 1990
Second Base – Jose Altuve, 2011 – 2024
Third Base – Morgan Ensberg, 2000, 2002 – 2007
Shortstop – Dickie Thon, 1981 – 1987
Outfield – George Springer, 2014 – 2020
Outfield – Jose Cruz, 1975 – 1987
Outfield – Kyle Tucker, 2018 – 2024
Starting Pitcher – Nolan Ryan, 1980 – 1988
Starting Pitcher – JR Richard, 1971 – 1980
Starting Pitcher – Don Wilson, 1966 – 1974
Relief Pitcher – Dave Smith, 1980 – 1990

3 responses to “Houston Astros All-Time Roster”

andyt

September 26, 2018 at 10:59 pm

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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Anonymous

March 5, 2020 at 3:58 pm

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. Anonymous
  
  March 5, 2020 at 5:43 pm
  
  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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