{"id":943162,"date":"2026-10-27T21:04:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/943162\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T21:04:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:04:21","slug":"astros-release-nelson-velazquez-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/943162\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros Release Nelson Velazquez – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Astros have moved on from veteran outfielder Nelson Velazquez<\/a>, relays Brian McTaggart of MLB.com<\/a>. He plans to pursue opportunities in Asia.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Velazquez opened the 2026 campaign in the Cardinals system. He had his contract selected in late May. Velazquez compiled a .722 OPS across 34 games in St. Louis. He showed solid power but also struck out more than 30% of the time.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals designated Velazquez for assignment in early August. Houston added him via waiver claim. Velazquez went 3-for-27 with 13 strikeouts in his brief time as an Astro. Two of his three hits were home runs. Houston DFAed Velazquez after a week and a half on the roster. He cleared waivers and elected free agency, then re-upped with the organization on a minor league deal.<\/p>\n

Velazquez, a former prospect of note in the Cubs system, has put up strong slugging numbers at each major league stop. He has 37 homers and a .221 ISO in 728 MLB plate appearances. Making consistent contact has been the main drawback. Velazquez has a career 29.5% strikeout rate supported by a massive 16.1% swinging-strike rate.<\/p>\n

The Cubs tried Velazquez in center field when he first debuted. He struggled there and has resided in the corner outfield spots since then. He\u2019s mostly been a subpar defender in left and right field as well. Velazquez posted -4 Defensive Runs Saved in 151 1\/3 innings on the grass this past season.<\/p>\n

Velazquez will head overseas in search of consistent playing time. The reports of his release didn\u2019t mention specific intentions, but there\u2019s a good chance he already has his next team lined up.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Astros have moved on from veteran outfielder Nelson Velazquez, relays Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. He plans to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":943163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,342300,85],"class_list":["post-943162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-nelson-velazquez","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}