HOUSTON — Every now and then, Yordan Alvarez will linger for a moment before he steps into the batter’s box. Sometimes he adjusts his batting gloves. Sometimes he shouts at a teammate crossing home plate. Sometimes he stares across the field and into the third-base dugout, where his mere presence makes opposing managers’ stomachs churn.
On Thursday afternoon, Alvarez’s gaze found Kurt Suzuki. His third inning as a major-league manager brought his first big decision — and a familiar uneasy feeling. In 2021 and 2022, amid Alvarez’s ascension to one of the sport’s most feared sluggers, Suzuki played for this same Los Angeles Angels team he now manages.
Perhaps Alvarez’s exploits left Suzuki more scarred than some of the league’s other 28 managers. Two were out in a scoreless Opening Day game, but with first base open, Suzuki showed catcher Logan O’Hoppe four fingers. Alvarez stopped his stroll before even reaching the batter’s box.
“I think I knew it even before the catcher did,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.
Three frames into a franchise-defining season, the Houston Astros were back in a situation they sought to avoid. They overhauled their entire hitting infrastructure this winter, added something called an offensive coordinator, and claimed a full-strength Alvarez could solve almost all of the struggles that haunted them last season.
“They came in with a pretty good game plan of how they were going to pitch to us. We just have to make adjustments,” said Joe Espada, a manager who uttered the same refrain throughout Houston’s frustrating 2025 season.
Thursday felt like an extension of it. A team that scored three or fewer runs 82 times last season began this one with a similar effort. Houston managed three hits and advanced one runner to third base during a lifeless 3-0 loss.
The Astros swung outside the strike zone 44 percent of the time in six innings against Angels starter José Soriano. Soriano threw 91 pitches. The Astros swung at 46 of them.
“We could’ve done a better job of getting better pitches to hit,” shortstop Carlos Correa said. “We swung too much.”
Last season, only three lineups swung more than Houston’s. Only one, the Colorado Rockies, chased more pitches outside the strike zone. Espada acknowledged again and again that his lineup “got away from our identity.” Hiring new hitting coaches Victor Rodríguez and Anthony Iapoce while giving Dan Hennigan the “offensive coordinator” title satisfied a seething Astros fan base that called for change.
Those fresh perspectives are welcome, but Thursday proved how difficult it will be to implement that change. Part-time players Mauricio Dubón and Jesús Sánchez are gone, but otherwise, this is the same group of hitters carrying the same offensive profiles that sank Houston last season. It remains an unbalanced lineup full of aggressive, free-swinging hitters.
Six weeks in spring training with some new coaches won’t change that instantly. General manager Dana Brown fulfilling his months-long claim that he’s seeking an established left-handed bat would help. So would the return of leadoff man Jeremy Peña, who missed Thursday’s game while recovering from a fractured finger.
“(Soriano) pitched real well, you also have to recognize that,” Alvarez said.
Soriano generated 15 whiffs on the first 24 swings the Astros took. He struck out seven, averaging 99.1 mph on the 23 four-seam fastballs he threw and 98 mph with 30 sinkers. Eight of the 11 swings Houston took against his curveball were whiffs. He started on Opening Day for a reason, even if he finished last season with a 4.26 ERA.
“With the type of stuff that he has, he should’ve never had a year like he had last year when he was in the 4s,” Correa said. “I think they’re trying to take him to that next level, and he looked pretty good today.”
A view of Daikin Park during the national anthem before the Houston Astros’ season opener against the Los Angeles Angels. (Tim Warner / Getty Images)
What must worry the Astros is how many more pitchers like him loom. They reside in a division that also houses Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, George Kirby and Luis Severino. All are established right-handed starters who should salivate at the sight of Houston’s imbalanced lineup.
Alvarez is one of two left-handed hitters the Astros carried on their Opening Day roster. The other one, Joey Loperfido, collected both of Houston’s hits against Soriano. Espada even slotted Loperfido sixth in his batting order — ahead of $20 million first baseman Christian Walker and blockbuster trade centerpiece Cam Smith — just to have the thought of balance.
It did not deter Suzuki during the third inning. Taking the bat out of Alvarez’s hands is rooted in logic. He would’ve homered off Soriano in the first inning if not for the baseball banging off a roof panel and landing in foul territory.
Doing it so early in the game demonstrated how dysfunctional Houston’s roster is constructed and how powerless its coaching staff is to combat it. Of the 43 times Alvarez has been intentionally walked in his career, this was the second to occur in a scoreless game. The other, in 2022, came after Alvarez had already gotten to a 3-0 count.
“You think about the most feared hitters in the league, you think about (Shohei) Ohtani, (Aaron) Judge and Yordan. Whoever’s hitting behind him is going to see that situation happen a lot,” Correa said.
“Especially with a righty, throwing sinkers at 100 mph. The matchup favors a right-handed hitter over a left-handed hitter.”
Isaac Paredes hit behind Alvarez on Thursday, but given the team’s infield surplus, it’s worth wondering how often Espada will be able to replicate that configuration. Peña’s looming return will slice into Paredes’ playing time.
After Alvarez ambled to first base, Paredes worked a walk to load the bases. He saw seven pitches and displayed the sort of patience his teammates could benefit from. Paredes’ free pass brought up Correa. He lined out to left field on the second pitch he saw. No Astro reached third base again.
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