Best duos in Houston Astros history
In Major League Baseball, it takes more than one skilled player to field a championship contender. It takes talent all over the field at a variety of positions, both in terms of pitchers and hitters. While having a star pitcher and a star hitter at the same time is no guarantee of success, it does put your team in a position to have the type of season that fans will talk about for generations.
While it's not quite the same as the NBA, where one standout duo can take a team from the cellar to playoff contention, it's not uncommon for an outstanding season from a pitcher and position player duo to add 20 wins or more, according to Baseball Reference's wins above replacement player metric. The number is designed to illustrate the difference between a star player and the type of player that would be considered "replacement level"—that is, one who could be easily signed as a midseason free agent or called up from the minor leagues.
The following is a list of the top pitcher/position player duos in Houston Astros history. Using wins above replacement, Stacker compiled a list of the seasons in franchise history that had a pitcher and hitter with the most combined value. Note that, for the purpose of capturing and examining the game's "modern era", only seasons after 1969 were used for this list.
#10. 1973 Houston Astros
- Cesar Cedeno: 7.4 WAR (#7 position player in 1973)
- Dave Roberts: 5.1 WAR (#18 pitcher in 1973)
- Total: 12.5 WAR
#9. 1982 Houston Astros
- Dickie Thon: 6.1 WAR (#15 position player in 1982)
- Joe Niekro: 6.8 WAR (#4 pitcher in 1982)
- Total: 12.9 WAR
#8. 1972 Houston Astros
- Cesar Cedeno: 8 WAR (#5 position player in 1972)
- Don Wilson: 4.9 WAR (#21 pitcher in 1972)
- Total: 12.9 WAR
#7. 1986 Houston Astros
- Kevin Bass: 5.2 WAR (#17 position player in 1986)
- Mike Scott: 8.4 WAR (#3 pitcher in 1986)
- Total: 13.6 WAR
#6. 2005 Houston Astros
- Morgan Ensberg: 6.3 WAR (#10 position player in 2005)
- Roger Clemens: 7.8 WAR (#1 pitcher in 2005)
- Total: 14.1 WAR
#5. 1999 Houston Astros
- Jeff Bagwell: 7.4 WAR (#3 position player in 1999)
- Mike Hampton: 6.7 WAR (#3 pitcher in 1999)
- Total: 14.1 WAR
#4. 2018 Houston Astros
- Alex Bregman: 7.9 WAR (#3 position player in 2018)
- Justin Verlander: 6.3 WAR (#7 pitcher in 2018)
- Total: 14.2 WAR
#3. 1997 Houston Astros
- Craig Biggio: 9.4 WAR (#2 position player in 1997)
- Darryl Kile: 5.4 WAR (#14 pitcher in 1997)
- Total: 14.8 WAR
#2. 1969 Houston Astros
- Jim Wynn: 7.1 WAR (#9 position player in 1969)
- Larry Dierker: 8.7 WAR (#2 pitcher in 1969)
- Total: 15.8 WAR
#1. 2019 Houston Astros
- Alex Bregman: 8.9 WAR (#1 position player in 2019)
- Justin Verlander: 7.4 WAR (#3 pitcher in 2019)
- Total: 16.3 WAR
