The 24 best players in Houston Astros history

The best trade the Houston Astros ever made came in August 1990, when they dealt right-handed reliever Larry Anderson to Boston in exchange for minor-league first baseman Jeff Bagwell. At the time Bagwell was a high-upside offensive prospect, but I don't think even the Astros anticipated he'd go on to become the best player in their club's history. Bagwell spent all of his 15 big-league seasons with Houston, slashing .297/.408/.540, and retired as the franchise's all-time leader in home runs (449) and RBI (1,529). He was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1991, was named MVP in '94, represented Houston in four All-Star games, won three Silver Sluggers and one Gold Glove. Bagwell was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2017, 10 years after the Astros retired his number 5. 

Seton Hall product Craig Biggio was the Astros' first-round pick in 1987 and was Bagwell's teammate during his entire Houston career, as the pair actually shared the right side of the infield for the better part of a decade and a half. While Bagwell got a lot of attention for his power, Biggio's game was more finesse, and the two complemented each other nicely. Like his buddy, Biggio spent his entire career with the Astros, slashing .281/.363/.433 with 291 homers, 1,175 RBI, 668 doubles, and 414 stolen bases. He is the franchise's all-time leader in games, hits, runs, doubles and HBP, and wore an Astros hat in seven All-Star games. Biggio also took home five Silver Slugger Awards and earned four Gold Gloves and is remembered as one of the premier second baseman to ever play the game. He had his Cooperstown ticket punched in 2015 and Houston retired his number 7 in a 2008 ceremony.

Prior to the arrival of Bagwell and Biggio in the late '80s and early '90s, the most accomplished offensive player in Astros' history was outfielder Jose Cruz, who starred for the team for 13 seasons. Houston acquired Cruz from the Cardinals in '74, and while he had been a role player in St. Louis, he became much more than that in southeast Texas. In a shade under 1,900 games with the Astros, Cruz slashed .292/.359/.429 with 553 extra-base hits and 288 stolen bases. He qualified for two All-Star teams and won a pair of Silver Sluggers with Houston and is still the team's all-time leader in triples. The Astros retired his number 25 in 1992. 

Center fielder Cesar Cedeno was the Astros' main attraction for most of the 1970s, and for more than a decade gave Houston one of the most prolific base-stealers in the game. The Dominican Republic native debuted in 1970 as a 19-year-old rookie, and it quickly became evident the Astros had an intriguing talent on their hands. In the 1,512 games Cedeno suited up for Houston he slashed .289/.351/.454 with 561 extra-base hits and a franchise-leading 487 stolen bases. Cedeno was a four-time All-Star and won five Gold Gloves in Houston, and in an organization rich with offensive history it's important he doesn't get overlooked. 

Early in his career, second baseman Jose Altuve used to hear his detractors say he couldn't become a star at the big-league level because of his small 5'6", 166-lb. stature. It's fair to say he emphatically put that narrative to bed in a hurry. Since debuting in 2011, Altuve has been the best second baseman in baseball and has been the driving force on two Astros World Series winners. At just 33 years old, the Venezuela native's career is far from over, but let's examine the resume he's already put together. In 1,668 games, he owns a lifetime .307/.364/.471 slash line with 209 homers, 747 RBI, an even 400 doubles and 293 stolen bases. He led the league in hits four consecutive seasons from '14-'17, has led the league in steals twice, and already won three batting titles. Altuve was the AL MVP in 2017, has made eight All-Star teams, earned six Silver Slugger Awards, won a Gold Glove, and been an ALCS MVP. He is already a lock to ultimately end up in Cooperstown, and no future Houston player will ever wear number 27. The only question now is how much more can the veteran accomplish before he's done.

Soon after left-handed slugger Lance Berkman reached the major leagues, Astros fans began referring to him, Bagwell and Biggio as the 'Triple B's', and the three led this offense together for a half-dozen years before Bagwell retired. Berkman was the Astros' first-round pick in 1997 out of Rice University in Houston, and instantly became a fan favorite. In 12 seasons with the club, he slashed .296/.410/.549 with 326 homers, 1,090 RBI and 375 doubles. He represented the organization in six All-Star games and was an integral part of Houston's National League pennant-winning team in '05. The club has not officially retired his number 17, but no Astros player has worn it since he left the team in 2010. 

Hard-throwing righty Roy Oswalt is one of the biggest success stories in Houston Astros history, as after being selected by the club in the 23rd round of the 1996 draft out of a small community college he went on to become one of the best pitchers in team history. It took Oswalt five years to reach the big leagues after being drafted, but he quickly proved to be worth the wait. In 10 seasons with Houston, he won 143 games with a strong 3.24 ERA. There's an expression that the best ability is availability, and in an era where pitchers consistently experience arm injuries, Oswalt made 30 or more starts eight times in a nine-year span. He won the ERA title in '06, made three All-Star teams, and was named the 2005 NLCS MVP after delivering two dominant starts against St. Louis.

Right-handed swinging outfielder Jim Wynn debuted for the Astros as a 21-year-old in 1963, just one year after the franchise's inception, and would go on to become one of the most productive players in club history. In 11 seasons with the team, Wynn slashed .255/.362/.445 with 223 homers, 719 RBI, 228 doubles and 180 stolen bases. He represented the organization in the 1967 All-Star Game, a season in which he would go on to blast 37 homers and drive in 107 runs. Houston retired his number 24 in 2005, and in 2019 he was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame. 

Like Carlos Correa, third baseman Alex Bregman was another player the Astros selected towards the top of the draft — in his case, No. 2 overall in 2015 — that really propelled the team's rebuild toward the finish line. Bregman joined the organization as a polished prospect coming out of a big college program at LSU, and reached the majors just a year after he was drafted. And between then and now, he's sure accomplished a lot in Houston. The 29-year-old owns a lifetime .274/.373/.487 slash line with 165 home runs, 588 RBI and 235 doubles. He's qualified for two All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger, but most importantly is the owner of two World Series rings as a member of the Astros' championship teams in 2017 and 2022.  

The Astros selected shortstop Carlos Correa No. 1 overall in the 2012 draft, and the pick would prove to be one of the turning points that helped accelerate the organization's rebuild. Correa burst onto the major league scene in '15 and crushed 22 home runs in only 99 games on his way to winning AL Rookie of the Year — and that was just the beginning. In his seven seasons with Houston, Correa slashed .277/.356/.481 with 133 homers, 489 RBI and 162 doubles while reaching two All-Star games and winning both a Gold Glove and a Platinum Glove. Most importantly, however, he helped bring the first-ever World Series victory to Houston in 2017 and for that he'll always be remembered fondly in this city. 

Righty Larry Dierker was a reliable pitcher for the Astros for 13 seasons, compiling a strong 3.28 ERA for the team across 345 outings in the '60s and '70s. He was an All-Star in both '69 and '71, but Dierker is perhaps best remembered in Houston for his achievements from the dugout. He was named the manager of the Astros in 1997, and his 448 managerial wins trail only Bill Virdon and A.J. Hinch in club history. He guided the team to the playoffs in four of his five seasons at the helm but failed to ever advance past the NLDS. 

Second baseman Joe Morgan is obviously most known for being a perennial All-Star and a two-time MVP winner as part of the vaunted Big Red Machine in Cincinnati in the '70s, but he first cut his big-league teeth with the Astros back in the early part of the '60s. In 10 seasons in Houston — including one later in his career in 1980 — Morgan slashed .261/.374/.393 with 288 extra-base hits and 219 stolen bases. The first two of his 10 career All-Star appearances came in Houston, and had the Astros known what he would ultimately develop into there's no chance they would have traded him to the Reds in '71. 

Switch-hitting second baseman Bill Doran never made an All-Star team, but for the entirety of his career was a gritty player that did a lot of different things to help his team win. His first nine big-league seasons came with Houston, where he slashed .267/.355/.374 in 1,165 contests. Power was not Doran's game, as evidenced by the modest 69 homers he hit and 404 runs he drove in as an Astro, but he did swipe 191 bases and score 611 runs for the organization that gave him his start.

Outfielder Terry Puhl played all but 15 of his 1,531 Major League games in a Houston Astros uniform and provided the club with a steady and dependable everyday player for over a decade. During his Astros tenure, Puhl slashed .281/.349/.389 with 344 extra-base hits, 432 RBI and 217 stolen bases. The native Canadian qualified for his one and only All-Star Game in 1978. 

Along with Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa, center fielder George Springer helped form the core of a position-player unit that ultimately brought the first World Series championship trophy to Houston in 2017. In seven seasons with the Astros, the UConn product slashed .270/.361/.491 with 174 homers, 458 RBI, and 137 doubles while earning a reputation as one of the game's most clutch players. This was only further driven home in the '17 World Series against the Dodgers, when he hit .379 with five home runs and three doubles en route to being named series MVP. Springer represented the Astros in three All-Star games and won two Silver Slugger Awards with the club, and it's still a little puzzling that they let him walk in free agency after the truncated 2020 campaign. 

Monroe, Louisiana native Don Wilson spent his entire career with the Astros and was honestly one of the more underrated pitchers of his era. In 266 outings with Houston, the 6'2" right-hander won 104 games with a strong 3.15 ERA while pitching mostly for mediocre Astros teams. He eclipsed the 200 inning plateau six different times for Houston and was an All-Star in 1971. The team retired his number 40 in 1975.  

Righty Mike Scott was a league-average starting pitcher for the Mets early in his career, but things began to change dramatically for him when he was traded to Houston in exchange for Danny Heep ahead of the 1983 season. With the Astros, Scott morphed into one of the most dynamic hurlers in the National League, winning 110 games for the team in nine years, while pitching to a 3.30 ERA in over 1,700 innings. He was never better than in 1986 when he won the NL Cy Young award on the heels of a season that watched him win the ERA title and lead the league in innings, WHIP, and strikeouts. In the playoffs that year he tormented his former team in the NLCS and was actually named series MVP in a losing effort. His number 33 was retired by Houston in 1992. 

Right-handed swinging Bob Watson played sparingly for the Astros for several years before finally getting a chance to start every day in 1971. While he was never considered one of the elite hitters in the National League, for all of the 1970s he was a productive player for Houston. In 1,381 games for the Astros, he slashed .297/.364/.444 with 139 homers, 782 RBI, and 241 doubles. Watson made the All-Star team in both 1973 and 1975 and finished 11th in MVP voting in '76. 

Mike Scott isn't the only right-handed starting pitcher that began his career with ups and downs in Queens before ultimately becoming a star in the state of Texas. Nolan Ryan first really began to make his mark with the California Angels, winning 62 games for the Halos in his first three seasons with the team. But he landed in Houston in 1980 and quickly became one of the best hurlers in Astros history. In 282 starts for Houston, the Refugio, TX native won 106 games with a 3.13 ERA, while punching out 1,866 hitters in 1,854.2 innings. He won two ERA titles with the Astros and led the league in strikeouts in four straight seasons from '87-'90 — though the last two of those years he was with the Rangers. Ryan represented Houston in two All-Star games and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. The team retired his number 34 in 1996. 

Righty Joe Niekro pitched in the big leagues for 22 years and exactly half of them came as a member of the Houston Astros. In those 11 seasons, the West Liberty University product won 144 games with an impressive 3.22 ERA in 2,270 innings, second to only Larry Dierker in franchise history. Niekro led the National League with 21 wins and made the All-Star team in 1979 and led the majors by starting 38 games in both '83 and '84.

To be perfectly frank, in all probability the Astros do not win the 2017 World Series without their late August trade with the Tigers to acquire right-hander Justin Verlander. In five starts down the stretch that September, the veteran pitched to a 1.06 ERA, and along with Gerrit Cole gave Houston a dynamic 1-2 punch in the playoffs. Verlander then gave the Astros two terrific campaigns in '18 and '19, making the All-Star team in both seasons and winning the AL Cy Young award in 2019. Unfortunately, after just one outing in the COVID season of 2020 it was revealed he needed Tommy John surgery that cost him the better part of two seasons. But in true superhero fashion, he returned in '22 and went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA while winning his third career Cy Young award and helping pitch Houston to another World Series championship. Verlander left to join the Mets as a free agent the following winter, though as fate would have it, wound up back in Houston in a trade deadline deal. His return helped the Astros rally to win yet another AL West crown, and heading into 2024 he'll find himself in familiar territory atop this club's rotation. 

J.R. Richard spent the first half of his career as a league-average pitcher at best, but something clicked for him in a big way in 1976. That year, the righty won 20 games with a stellar 2.75 ERA in 291 innings, and from that point on he was one of the top starters in the National League. Richard threw over 260 innings in each of the next three seasons, won the ERA title in 1979, and was an All-Star in 1980. Unfortunately, during the second half of the '80 campaign Richard experienced numbness in his arm that later landed him in the hospital. A few weeks after that he collapsed in the outfield before a game and had a stroke. He tried to come back the following season, but Richard's career effectively ended at 30 years old and has become a tragic tale of 'what if?'

The Astros selected right-handed pitcher Shane Reynolds in the third round of the 1989 draft out of Texas A&M, and the Bastrop, Louisiana native would go on to become a key cog in the club's rotation for about a decade. In parts of 11 seasons in Houston, Reynolds went 103-86 with a 3.95 ERA in 1,622.1 innings. He led the league in games started twice, made one All-Star team and tossed 20 complete games during his Astros tenure — including seven shutouts. 

First baseman Glenn Davis spent the first seven seasons of his major-league career in Houston with the Astros, providing the team with a dangerous middle of the lineup bat for most of that time. In 830 games with the Astros, Davis slashed .262/.337/.483 with 166 homers and 518 RBI. He blasted 30 or more long balls three different times for Houston, made two All-Star teams, won a Silver Slugger and helped bring the Astros within two wins of a World Series appearance in 1986.