The Launch Angle

Earlier in the season, I wrote about the peculiar situation where the Houston Astros had almost no available players on the 40 man roster with MLB center field experience. The Astros addressed that problem with some short term acquisitions, some positional rearrangements, and also just by waiting it out until certain players came back from injury.

They acquired Dustin Harris and Daniel Johnson briefly. They used Brice Matthews as an everyday center fielder , who at the time of that article had only 1 MLB career CF start. Eventually, players like Jake Meyers, Joey Loperfido, Taylor Trammell, and Zach Cole came back from the IL.

The center field problem was never really fixed though. What the Astros needed was someone who could play center field well defensively and not be an offensive hole in the lineup.

Brice Matthews turned out to be a very capable defensive outfielder, but his poor Contact% was improving at a glacial rate, and he couldn’t get his batting average above the Mendoza line nor his OPS above even .600, and he’s injured to boot.

Zach Cole has not shown he’s ready for the show, much less on an everyday basis. Loperfido has shown some flashes offensively here and there, but remains inconsistent, and from a defensive standpoint, he rates well from a corner outfield perspective, but he is below average in center field.

Taylor Trammell has probably been the most fruitful offensively, with a wRC+ of 105, but he’s also a guy who is neutral to positive defensively as a corner outfielder, but has been worth -2 OAA and -5 DRS in his near 200 innings of center field work this season.

None of these guys were ever supposed to be the answer in center field to begin with. Center field was supposed to be Jake Meyers’ everyday office. Meyers was a Gold Glove finalist in 2024, and after a 2025 season where he posted a 107 wRC+ and a .797 OPS, the Astros felt they had their center field situation sorted. To start the season, he was treated as the everyday center fielder until Mid-April when he went on the IL with an oblique strain. When he came back 5 weeks later, he was nothing like 2025 Jake Meyers at the plate. By June 20, his OPS had dropped below .600 and never came back up, to the point where he had become a Brice Matthews equivalent, but without Matthews’ infield positional flexibility, and was optioned to AAA on July 4.

When it was widely reported that the Astros needed outfield help at the trade deadline, that was only part of the story. What they specifically needed was center field help. A center fielder like the one they thought they were going to have with Meyers this year: one who was a defensive asset and not a liability in center field, and one who could be at least a league average bat on offense.

That’s actually not that common in today’s MLB. There are 48 centerfielders in 2026 who have at least 150 PA. Just 12 of them have both a wRC+ ≥ 100 and a Def ≥ 0.

Daulton Varsho is not one of those 12; his 2026 wRC+ clocks in at 90 as of today’s writing. But he does still rate positively defensively in center field.

There was a lot of fan backlash to the Varsho-Spencer Arrighetti trade. Many fans felt that Arrighetti, with multiple years of team control left was too much to give up for a half season Varsho rental. Arrighetti was a May pitcher of the month, and Varsho had a .682 OPS in 2026.

I was fine with the trade. We’ve seen what Arrighetti is by now. He’s a slightly below average pitcher who ideally slots in as a bottom of the rotation guy on a team. May was an illusion, where the outcomes for an entire month were far better than the quality of his pitching would have actually warranted. There’s nothing wrong with being a slightly below average bottom of the rotation pitcher, but that kind of asset is expendable.

Varsho was the best center fielder available on the trade market. It’s not as if Julio Rodriguez or Pete Crow-Armstrong were on the block (and not like the Astros could have afforded them even if they were.) Varsho has had a down year offensively this year, but if they were looking for that combination of an at least league average bat and a plus defender in center field, Varsho was probably the best shot for the Astros to get one. Varsho is a center field Gold Glove winner; he actually won the Gold Glove the year Meyers was a finalist. Varsho also had a wRC+ of 123 as recently as last year, and for his career has a 98 wRC+, essentially league average.

Varsho became the Plan B when Plan A of Jake Meyers unexpectedly fell apart. (Well, really, Varsho was the Plan H, as Matthews, Trammell, Loperfido and the host of other guys the Astros tried in center field were Plans B through G.)

It’s not too late for Meyers. He was called up before yesterday’s Padres series opener from AAA. He wasn’t exactly crushing in Sugar Land to merit the callup. In 20 games in the PCL, he slashed .243/.325/.351, but in his last 3 games with the Space Cowboys he went 7 for 13 at the plate. That was enough for Dana Brown to bring him back up, because frankly even with Varsho, the Astros still remain a little desperate. Even if Varsho was the best center fielder available at the deadline there are still some questions in 2026 about his bat.

Meyers started last night and to give you an idea of how highly the team respects his defense, he started in center field, despite his minus throwing arm, and pushed Varsho over to left field. An outfield of Varsho, Meyers and Cam Smith is among the best in the majors defensively.

Meyers went 2 for 4 with a double. It’s one game, but if Meyers can find his 2025 form, then he, along with Varsho, changes the profile of the much maligned 2026 Astros outfield dramatically both offensively and defensively.

Peter Lambert vs. Michael King

Peter Lambert takes the mound today and he has easily been the Astros best starting pitcher this year. In 19 starts, he’s allowed more than 3 runs just 3 times. He comes into the game with a 3.08 ERA, so with a good outing today, he could actually get his ERA under 3 for the season, an impressive feat this late in the season.

Opposite Lambert, Michael King starts for the Padres. The 31 year old right-hander is 6-8 on the season with a respectable 3.45 ERA and 1.2 WHIP over 23 starts this season. His K/9 is career low 7.9, however and his BB/9 is a career high 3.7, so his advance metrics register higher than his 3.45 ERA.

In his last game out, he struck out 5 and walked 4, allowing 3 runs in 5 innings against the Diamondbacks. He labored through the start, as it took 104 pitches just to get through the 5 innings.

King has a 4-seamer that averages 94 mph but his pitches of choice are the changeup primarily against left handers and the sinker, which have similar movement profiles but come in at 86.3 mph and 92.9 respectively. Against right handed he mixes in a sweeper more to complement his sinker, throwing his 4 seamer more for a change of pace (literally.)

Astros @ Padres Game Information and Gamethread Details

The game will be broadcast at 6:10 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM, which is not a bad start time for a West Coast game.

This post will be updated with starting lineup as they are made available.

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