Rick Osentoski – USA TODAY Sports
The Houston Astros‘ 2014 outfield has the potential to be really, really good. If it turns out to be Robbie Grossman in left, Dexter Fowler in center and George Springer in right, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more defensively tight outfield in MLB.
Not to mention, offensive prowess can be found there as well. The speed that they possess will wreak havoc on the basepaths and allow them to cover so much more ground in the outfield than what Astros fans are used to seeing from J.D. Martinez or Chris Carter.
Robbie Grossman is probably one of the most pleasant surprises of the Astros’ system thus far as he took his midseason demotion to triple-A incredibly well. He burst back into the majors, hitting .322 (which included a 10-game hit streak), four home runs and 21 RBIs out of the leadoff spot. He still needs a little fine-tuning in taking walks and base running, but it’ll be exciting to see if he can continue right where he left off.
Fowler was one of the Astros’ main acquisitions this offseason. A career .270 hitter, Fowler will also be in contention to hit leadoff in front of Jose Altuve. His speed is a known weapon and will be a welcome addition to an Astros lineup that seems to be building around speed.
And then of course, there’s Springer. He has to be the guy that Astros fans are most excited to see. It really has come down to finding Springer a challenge that he has yet to conquer. The only one that remains is MLB. His numbers got better as he moved up into higher minor league levels, and if that trend continues, the major leagues better look out.
L.J. Hoes will slot into right if Springer is for some reason deemed “not ready.” Otherwise, he’ll likely end up being a fourth outfielder, but a good one at that. He put up a .282 average for the Astros last year and was one of the steadiest players in the lineup going towards the end of the year.
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