The Astros were hoping that 35-year old lefty swinging 1B/DH Carlos Pena was going to give them a lot of power.  That hasn’t worked out quite yet.  Pena has played in 63 games so far this year and he is 50 for 212 (.236 avg, .728 OPS) with with 30 runs scored, 6 homers, 18 RBIs and 1 stolen base.  Pena has walked 32 times (#1 on the Astros), but he has also whiffed 65 times (2nd on the team to Chris Carter) so far this year.  The Astros are in a rebuilding mode, so they shouldn’t be giving ABs to guys like Pena.  Look for them to try to deal him at some point in the near future.

The Astros have sent 23-year old switch-hitting outfielder Robbie Grossman to AAA-ball.  He played in 28 games for the Astros this year and he was 22 for 111 (.198 avg, .553 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 0 homers, 3 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.  Grossman walked 16 times, but he also whiffed 31 times as he looked overmatched big time at the plate.  He also didn’t look too comfortable defensively in CF.  Grossman will need to play really well in AAA-ball before he gets another shot with the Astros.

26-year old lefty swinging 1B Brett Wallace is running out of time for the Houston Astros.  He has played in 6 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 1 for 21 (.048 avg, .139 OPS) with 1 run scored, 1 walk and an utterly amazingly awful 17 whiffs.  Wallace has now played in 238 games in his first four years with the Astros and he is 178 of 730 (.244 avg, . 684 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 16 homers, 66 RBIs and 1 stolen base.  Wallace is starting to run out of chances with the Houston Astros.

The Houston Astros are platooning 28-year old righty swinging Matt Downs and 28-year old lefty swinging Scott Moore at 1B instead of calling up 25-year old lefty swinging Brett Wallace. Downs has played in 64 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 26 of 130 (.200 avg, .641 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 7 homers, 13 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Moore has played in 20 games so far this year and he is 16 for 72 (.222 avg, .715 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 4 homers and 11 RBIs. Downs and Moore aren’t likely going to be around in Houston for a long time, so why not give Wallace another chance to show what he can do? Wallace played in 11 games earlier this year for the Astros and he was 12 for 36 (.333 avg, 1.012 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 4 RBIs. He also has played in 83 games in AAA-ball so far this year in which he is 91 of 302 (.301 avg, .870 OPS) with 51 runs scored, 14 homers and 53 RBIs. If the Astros are truly rebuilding, then they need to call up Wallace and start him at 1B the rest of this season.

24-year old righty swinging outfielder J.D. Martinez is having a rough time with the bat so far in 2012. Martinez has played in 37 games so far this year and he is 28 for 128 (.219 avg, .659 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 3 homers and 22 RBIs. He likely has a long leash due to the fact that the Astros are in a rebuilding mode right now. Martinez looked good late last year when he played in 53 games for the Astros in which he was 57 for 208 (.274 avg, .742 OPS) with 29 runs scored, 6 homers and 35 RBIs. The Astros hope that Martinez gets back to the hitter he was in 2011 soon.

The Astros dealt Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence at the trade deadline, leaving LF/1B Carlos Lee pretty much alone in the batter order among the veterans. He has not hit well at all in August for the Astros this month, as he has played in 17 games in which he is 10 for 58 (.172 avg, .556 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer and 8 RBIs. He has now played in 121 games for the Astros overall this year and he is 119 for 459 (.259 avg, .729 OPS) with 48 runs scored, 11 homers, 68 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Lee is likely to get walked a lot the rest of the year because he’s not going to have much protection in the batting order going forward.

32-year old righty swinging shortstop Clint Barmes has been a huge disappointment for the Astros so far this year. In his previous three years (with the Rockies), Barmes played in 294 games in which he was 340 for 1,330 (.256 avg) with 159 runs scored, 42 homers, 170 RBIs and 28 stolen bases. So the Astros expected Barmes to hit well for them in 2011 while also giving them solid D at SS. That hasn’t been the case this year as Barmes has been awful with the bat so far this year. Barmes has played in 42 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 34 for 155 (.219 avg, .649 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 3 homers and 11 RBIs.

27-year old righty swinging catcher J.R. Towles is starting to look more and more like a AAAA-player….too good for the minors but not good enough for the majors. In his last 24 games, Towles is 10 for 72 (.139 avg) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 5 RBIs. He has now played in 34 games overall this year for the Astros and he is 22 for 105 (.210 avg, .649 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 3 homers and 9 RBIs. Towles has now played in 135 games in his first five years with the Astros and he is 75 for 386 (.194 avg, .613 OPS) with 37 runs scored, 11 homers and 48 RBIs. The Astros really need to cut ties with J.R. Towles and start looking for a legit major league catcher.

26-year old righty swinging starting 3B Chris Johnson is off to a very slow start in 2011 for the Astros. Johnson has played in 28 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 21 for 108 (.194 avg, .600 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 4 homers and 13 RBIs. Part of his problem has been the utter lack of discipline at the dish as he has only walked 2 times while whiffing 29 times already this year. He needs to quit swinging at everything so he can be the kind of hitter he was last year. Johnson played in 94 games last year for the Astros and he was 105 of 342 (.308 avg, .808 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 11 homers, 52 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. The Astros were depending on Johnson’s bat this year, so they need him to get back on the right track.

Starting 3B Chris Johnson had a breakout year for the Astros in 2010, so the Astros gave him the starting job in spring training. But, Johnson is off to a very slow start. Johnson has played in 10 games for the Astros so far this year and he is 7 for 37 (.189 avg, .485 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 3 RBIs. He has been very impatient so far this year as he has whiffed 11 times while only walking 1 time. The Astros need Johnson to hit well because they are going to have a hard enough time scoring runs even if he is hitting.