Jason Heyward only had 61 regular season plate appearances with Houston, but had solid positive impact in that time.
Throughout the 2024 offseason, we’re going over each of the players to appear with the Astros in a regular season game.
I’m using BF and ERA+ for the pitchers and PA with OPS+ for the hitters. The product of those two variables allows me to order both category of players in the same list. Here’s where we’ve gotten to so far:
55. Grae Kessinger
54. Cooper Hummel
53. Pedro Leon
52. Aledmys Diaz
51. Jacob Ayama
50. Wander Suero
49. Miguel Diaz
48. Dylan Coleman
47. Forrest Whitley
46. Blair Henley
45. Joel Kuhnel
44. Jose Abréu
43. Alex Speas
42. Luis Contreras
41. Nick Hernandez
40. Parker Mushinski
39. Jake Bloss
38. Shay Whitcomb
37. Cesar Salazar
36. Zach Dezenzo
35. Héctor Neris
34. Brandon Bielak
33. Trey Cabbage
32. J.P. France
Your number 31 most positively impactful member of the 2024 Houston Astros was Jason Heyward.
Heyward is a six-foot-five, 240 lb. left-handed right-fielder from Ridgewood, NJ. Born on August 9, 1989, he was a first-round selection of the Atlanta Braves in 2007, with the 14th overall choice. He reached the majors with the Braves in 2010, making the All-Star Team as a 20-year-old, and spent five seasons with Atlanta. He then spent a season with the St. Louis Cardinals, seven seasons with the Chicago Cubs, and one and a half seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. On August 24 of this year, the Dodgers released him from his contract.
Five days after his release, the Astros took a flyer on Heyward, putting him to work in 24 of Houston’s final 30 regular season games. He hit .218/.283/.473 with two doubles and four home runs. He scored eight times and drove in nine, drawing five walks and striking out 17 times. He also stole one base in his only attempt.
On September 15, Heyward collected three base hits — including a home run and totaling two RBI in a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels. On September 24, he had his best game with Houston, totaling .257 WPA in a victory over the Seattle Mariners. Heyward hit a one-out, two-run, fifth-inning home run to change a 3-2 deficit into an eventual 4-3 win.
Heyward’s expected slashline was a bit lower than his actual stats, with marks of .232/.300/.351. According to Baseball Savant, he was most adept at connecting with the slider, against which he slashed .263/.410/.632 with a 30.8 percent hard-hit rate.
Five days after the conclusion of the World Series, Heyward will become a free agent and is welcome to negotiate terms with any team he wants to. Based on his output while with the team to close out the campaign, it would behoove the Astros to consider offering him a one-year deal.