2024 Houston Astros Starters: CF Jake Meyers

Good morning, y'all. Welcome to the penultimate post of this series! Today we are looking at the Astro starter with, hmm how can I say this kindly, the least amount of hype. Not to say we don't have hope or hate the guy but I think most of us have the lowest expectations for Jake "used to rake" Meyers out of all our starters. And it's the one position I would put money on Dana Brown trying to upgrade around the Trade Deadline. Jake is a speedy defensive specialist in my eyes but will his stats back my belief up? Let's find out and jump right into his stats and profile.

DISCLAIMER: this isn't meant to be a deep-dive but more a snorkeling-dive, to get the conversation going on how we feel about the position/player and what we expect out of them. Please feel free to comment on formatting, stats presented, etc.

2023 Stats

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Stat	Value	Ranking Among CFs*
Games Played	112	27
Plate Appearances	341	37
AVG	.227	34
HR	10	26-tied
RBI	33	39
R	42	38
OBP	.296	34-tied
SLG	.382	28
OPS	.678	29
OPS+	86	29
wRC+	88	31
K%	25.8	27
BB%	7.6	24
BABIP	.283	31-tied
fWAR	1.7	26-tied
bWAR	1.6	NA

*Rankings based on CFs w/ at least 300 PAs in 2023 (43 total). Exact rankings are off by spot or 2 due to secondary positions but you get the picture.

Baseball Savant Page: Meyers' hitting profile is most similar to that of Hunter Renfroe in 2023 (editor's note: damn, should have done this with all the starters previously)

Interesting Stat: Jake does way better against RP than with SP (OPS .788 vs .583, respectively). Jake is also the rare Astro to fare better facing a pitcher the 2nd time around.

Surprising Stat: Jake hits best in high lvrge situations, with an OPS of .796.

What To Look Forward To

You love scrappy players? You want speed and amazing defense? Then Jake Marisnick Meyers is your kind of baseball player! But seriously, look at this comparison. Their range and sprint speed percentiles are identical in those years as well.

Meyers is a Gold Glove caliber defender in CF, making tough plays look routine. If he plays a full season this year, I fully expect him to be a finalist for the award. And don't let the lack of stolen bases fool you; Jake is fast and an overall good base-runner. Jake still hits lefties well, with an OPS of .785 against them in 2023. His best numbers came during the first couple months of the season, where he got his most consistent playing time. One can hope that performance can be extrapolated over the course of a full season.

What To Be Concerned About

Meyers lost playing time last year for good reason: he fell off a cliff offensively. Once June rolled around, his OPS was above .650 for a calendar month only once for the rest of the season. He struggles vs RHP, with an OPS of .646 and his best batting statistic on his savant is his chase%, in the 61 percentile. So above average but not spectacular. His peripherals don't suggest he was a victim of bad luck. He'll give you a flash of his rookie-self for a week or two then revert back to being a bad hitter. And while his defense is elite, his arm strength does leave something to be desired.

My Prediction/Conclusion

You might be surprised by the shorter criticisms section but I try to paint an overall optimistic, but realistic, picture for our players. However, I would have just kept giving you numbers on how Meyers wasn't that great of a hitter last year. He's solid on the road (OPS .744) but awful at home (OPS .611). As mentioned above, good in high lvrge but not otherworldly and aside from that, back to a sub .700 OPS.

But in the end, that might be okay b/c Meyers doesn't have to be a good hitter. Hell, he can even afford to be a subpar hitter. He's playing for his defense and the hope that he can somehow capture his 2021 pre-injury form in some capacity. If his OPS hovers around .700 and he maintains his elite defense, I would be perfectly whelmed. He's our number 9 hitter and there are definitely worse players to have in that position . . . you know damn well whom I'm referring to.

And just so we're clear, I am not hoping for Jake to perform like this or worse. I will gladly have this post be thrown back into my face if he goes off this year. This is just what I expect from him. But Jake, please prove me wrong.

What do you think of Jake? Will he do better now that management has openly put their faith in him as an everyday player? Will he win a Gold Glove? Over/under 15 HRs? Will he be turned loose on the basepaths? Do you want Brown to trade for an upgrade or another LF/CF to place Chas in CF? Thank you for reading and I'll see y'all in the final post: Kyle Tucker. Have a nice day!