WHAT YOU WON'T HEAR
Here's the unspoken truth about Houston Astros facing former catcher Martin Maldonado
Jun 18, 2024, 2:27 pm
Let's end this debate once and for all. Composite Getty Image.
When Martin Maldonado comes to bat for the Chicago White Sox against the Astros this week, you can expect our TV and radio announcers to wax nostalgic about Maldy’s six years in Houston.
They’ll go on about how popular he was with fans and what a leader he was in the clubhouse. They’ll praise his defensive ability and mastery of the catcher position. They’ll talk about how pitchers had confidence in him and pitched their best with him in the lineup.
Social media will come alive with thoughts the Astros blew it by letting Maldonado go in free agency in favor of giving the full-time catcher job to Yanier Diaz.
Let’s put that defenseless talk to rest.
I could stop right here: Martin Maldonado is a terrible hitter, on course to put up the worst offensive numbers in baseball history. He’s a very below average defensive catcher, perhaps the worst in the Major Leagues.
As they used to say on the Jerry Lewis Telethon, let’s go to the tote board.
Maldonado, 37, is batting a ridiculously paltry .083. He has only nine hits in 107 at bats, with one homer and five RBI.
To put those lowly numbers in perspective, the worst season a player with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title in history was Orioles first baseman Chris Davis in 2018. Davis batted .168 that year.
Maldonado won’t reach the required number of plate appearances, but raw numbers, Davis’ batting average was more than double Maldonado’s current .083. Speaking of double, Maldonado has only two doubles this season. The season is almost half-over.
OK, he is horrible at the plate, the closest thing to an automatic out since Little League.
This from a Reddit post: there’s an expression to describe a terrible hitter … “He can’t hit his weight.” If you’re talking pounds, that’s been done many times over history. But if Maldonado stays the course, he will be the first ever who didn’t hit his weight in kilograms. He weighs 104 kilos.
Now let’s look at his defensive numbers. Surely those must be some impressive stats to justify his place in the starting lineup. Wrong. He simply can’t throw out base stealers, an important measure of a catcher’s defensive worth. This year, 34 runners have attempted to steal a base on Maldonado. He’s thrown out only two of them for a 6 percent success rate.
Maldonado has three passed balls this season. He had 12 passed balls last season with the Astros and led the league in that department. He is one of the most porous catchers over the past decade.
As for his intangibles and handling of pitchers, the White Sox have a team earned run average of 4.93. That’s good for 29th place in MLB. There are 30 teams. The White Sox staff’s WHIP is 1.42, also good for 29th place. The bullpen has 11 saves, yup, 29th place.
Not surprisingly, the White Sox are in last place in the American League Central with a 19-54 record. That’s a winning percentage of .260. Only five teams since 1900 have had a lower winning percentage for a season. The last time a team had a lower winning percentage than the 2024 White Sox was the hapless first-year New York Mets in 1962.
It’s not like the White Sox are doing so well they can withstand a catcher who can’t hit and can’t throw out base stealers.
So why is Maldonado still behind the plate for the White Sox? He has caught 38 games, more than half of the games the White Sox have played.
Here’s White Sox manager Pedro Grifol a couple of weeks ago: “I’m actually OK with his results at the plate. He hasn’t played 12 seasons because he hits .300.”
No, he’s played 12 seasons and his career batting average is .203.
More from Grifol: “He’s played as long as he’s played because he does what he does behind the plate. A future Hall of Fame manager (Dusty Baker), he wanted him behind the plate. There’s a reason for it.”
Let’s play $25,000 Pyramid. The answer is “Things a manager says before he loses his job.”
Meanwhile, for all the wringing of Astros fans’ hands over Yanier Diaz’s recent batting slump, chasing pitches outside the strike zone and grounding into double plays …
Diaz, 25, is hitting .260 (solid for a catcher) with seven home runs and 33 RBI (tied for third on the Astros). Over 44 games behind the plate, he has thrown out nine potential base stealers for a 20 percent success rate. He has no passed balls, this year or for his career.
What looked like a minor blip after an emotional series win in Los Angeles has turned into something more concerning for the Houston Astros.
Swept at home by a Guardians team that came in riding a 10-game losing streak, the Astros were left looking exposed. Not exhausted, as injuries, underperformance, and questionable decision-making converged to hand Houston one of its most frustrating series losses of the year.
Depth finally runs dry
It would be easy to point to a “Dodger hangover” as the culprit, the emotional peak of an 18-1 win at Chavez Ravine followed by a mental lull. But that’s not the story here.
Houston’s energy was still evident, especially in the first two games of the series, where the offense scored five or more runs each time. Including those, the Astros had reached that mark in eight of their last 10 games heading into Wednesday’s finale.
But scoring isn’t everything, not when a lineup held together by duct tape and desperation is missing Christian Walker and Jake Meyers and getting critical at-bats from Cooper Hummel, Zack Short, and other journeymen.
The lack of depth finally showed. The Astros, for three days, looked more like a Triple-A squad with Jose Altuve and a couple big-league regulars sprinkled in.
Cracks in the pitching core
And the thing that had been keeping this team afloat, elite pitching, finally buckled.
Hunter Brown and Josh Hader, both dominant all season, finally cracked. Brown gave up six runs in six innings, raising his pristine 1.82 ERA to 2.21. Hader wasn’t spared either, coughing up a game-losing grand slam in extra innings that inflated his ERA from 1.80 to 2.38 in one night.
But the struggles weren’t isolated. Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort, and Steven Okert each gave up runs at critical moments. The bullpen’s collective fade could not have come at a worse time for a team already walking a tightrope.
Injury handling under fire
Houston’s injury management is also drawing heat, and rightfully so. Jake Meyers, who had been nursing a calf strain, started Wednesday’s finale. He didn’t even make it through one pitch before aggravating the injury and needing to be helped off the field.
No imaging before playing him. No cautionary rest despite the All-Star break looming. Just a rushed return in a banged-up lineup, and it backfired immediately.
Second-guessing has turned to outright criticism of the Astros’ medical staff, as fans and analysts alike wonder whether these mounting injuries are being made worse by how the club is handling them.
Pressure mounts on Dana Brown
All eyes now turn to Astros GM Dana Brown. The Astros are limping into the break with no clear reinforcements on the immediate horizon. Only Chas McCormick is currently rehabbing in Sugar Land. Everyone else? Still sidelined.
Brown will need to act — and soon.
At a minimum, calling up top prospect Brice Matthews makes sense. He’s been mashing in Triple-A (.283/.400/.476, 10 HR, .876 OPS) and could play second base while Jose Altuve shifts to left field more regularly. With Mauricio Dubón stretched thin between shortstop and center, injecting Matthews’ upside into the infield is a logical step.
*Editor's note: The Astros must be listening, Matthews was called up Thursday afternoon!
The Astros are calling up Brice Matthews, their top prospect on @MLBPipeline
via @brianmctaggart pic.twitter.com/K91cGKkcx6
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 10, 2025
There’s also trade chatter, most notably about Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, but excitement has been tepid. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but compared to who the Astros are fielding now, Mullins would be a clear upgrade and a much-needed big-league presence.
A final test before the break
Before the All-Star reset, Houston gets one last chance to stabilize the ship, and it comes in the form of a rivalry series against the Texas Rangers. The Astros will send their top trio — Lance McCullers Jr., Framber Valdez, and Hunter Brown — to the mound for a three-game set that will test their resolve, their health, and perhaps their postseason aspirations.
The Silver Boot is up for grabs. So is momentum. And maybe, clarity on just how far this version of the Astros can go.
There's so much more to discuss! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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*ChatGPT assisted.
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