Isaac Paredes is struggling early this season, and pitch selection could be a factor for the usually discerning hitter.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Plate discipline is a trademark for Isaac Paredes, making the Houston Astros infielder’s evaluation of his slow offensive start to the season Saturday night notable.
“I would say they’re bad at-bats right now,” Paredes said, through an interpreter. “I’m taking a plan to home plate and then I’m suddenly changing it, so I would say they’re bad right now.”
A blend of patience and damage made Paredes one of the Astros’ most productive hitters last season when healthy. He ranked second on the team in OPS-plus and averaged their most pitches per plate appearance. General manager Dana Brown regularly pointed to Paredes’ hamstring injury in July as a pivotal event for an offense that struggled down the stretch.
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Paredes is back to working counts this season, but he is mired in an early slump. After going hitless in four at-bats Saturday in the Astros’ 7-5 loss to the Cardinals, Paredes owns a .186/.314/.254 slash line over his first 17 games. He has yet to hit a home run, after hitting 20 in 102 games last season, and he has four extra-base hits, all doubles, in 59 at-bats.
After Saturday’s game, Paredes indicated he does not think his early results reflect mechanical issues with his swing. Some of his metrics, in a still minute sample, suggest pitch selection could be a factor. Paredes’ chase rate entering Saturday was 30.3%, compared to a 21.4% chase rate last year. His swing-and-miss rate was up by about 5 percent.
“You usually don’t see him chasing as much,” manager Joe Espada said. “He’s usually someone who’s just disciplined and gets better pitches to hit. It’s just taking him a while to get going.”
Paredes is still pulling the ball in the air at an extreme clip, the approach that served him so well in his first season playing home games at Daikin Park. But his pop-up rate is up and his hard-hit rate through his first 17 games was down about 9 percent from last season. He had yet to barrel a ball put into play, per Baseball Savant, and did not hit a ball to an outfielder in his four at-bats Saturday.
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“I’m doing the same routine, it’s just not working out,” Paredes said. “But I’m taking it day by day. We’re going to start adding stuff to see if it can get better.”
In the offseason, and into spring training, much discourse about Paredes involved his trade candidacy. Despite their infield surplus, the Astros did not trade Paredes and started the season with that logjam intact, albeit mitigated slightly by shortstop Jeremy Peña’s measured return from a fractured fingertip. Peña is now on the injured list due to a hamstring strain.
Paredes, still, has so far occupied the pseudo-utility role that team officials forecast as a way to get him regular at-bats with the roster at full strength. He has started games at third, second and first base and designated hitter. Just once this season has Paredes started back-to-back games at the same position — April 7 and 8 at third base against the Rockies.
To what extent that might be affecting his early offense is unclear. Paredes, the everyday third baseman last year before his hamstring injury — and the Astros’ subsequent acquisition of Carlos Correa — downplayed the idea of moving around the field during spring training. He was asked Saturday night if doing so may be impacting him at the plate.
“I think slumps are part of the game,” Paredes said, through team interpreter Otto Loor. “I’m a guy (that) I don’t like excuses. But that can be a reason for why.”
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An independent translation by a Spanish-language reporter present for Paredes’ postgame interview interpreted his response as: “I think that we’re always going to go through rough patches, but like you say, I do think that changes my mindset a lot. I don’t like excuses, but I believe that can be a big factor in what I’m going through.”
“Yo creo que por baches siempre vamos a pasar, pero como tú dices si creo que me cambia mucho la mentalidad eso. No me gustan las excusas pero creo que ese puede ser un gran factor de lo que estoy pasando”.
Isaac Paredes sobre los cambios de posición y su rendimiento ofensivo. pic.twitter.com/oj7wZYTOTF
— Javier Gonzalez (@Astros_Coverage) April 19, 2026
Paredes was not in Houston’s lineup for a rest day Friday after starting the prior nine games but sent in to pinch-hit with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. He was then removed for a pinch-hitter in the eighth, again with the bases loaded. Espada said afterward that Paredes’ “legs were not feeling great,” particularly after pursuing a foul pop-up from third base late in the game.
Saturday, Paredes was back in the lineup at DH. He took two of Houston’s seven at-bats with a runner in scoring position Saturday, recording a ground out and a strikeout, extending an 0-for-15 stretch.
He is not the only factor in a cooled-off Astros offense. Jose Altuve has three hits in his last 22 at-bats. Christian Walker is in a 3-for-26 stretch and Cam Smith in a 3-for-21. Carlos Correa has three hits in his past 17 at-bats and Yainer Diaz did not play the last two nights for a “reset” amid his slow start. Yordan Alvarez remains on a tear, but a lineup missing Peña since last weekend is searching for other constants.
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After averaging seven runs across their first 11 games, the Astros have totaled 39 runs over their past 11. They are 2-9 in that stretch and have been held to two or fewer runs in five of those games.
A surge from Paredes would certainly help. On Thursday, he just missed a walk-off home run against the Rockies, flying out to the warning track in left field. Espada said Paredes “barely missed” a pop-out in his third at-bat Saturday, which left his bat at 94.5 mph. Paredes said he feels close to his previous form.
“I’m just going to keep working and try to get that same feeling that I had,” Paredes said.