Young Houston Astros Star Claims Baseball Most Precious Award after the recent match performances
Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz continues to rack up the offseason accolades as he was named to the Baseball Digest/eBay All-Star Rookie Lineup on Tuesday.
The MLB Network released the team.
Diaz has already been named the Astros’ starting catcher for 2024, as he produced far more offensively than last year’s starter, Martín Maldonado. The veteran catcher signed with the Chicago White Sox earlier this offseason.
To augment the workload behind the plate the Astros signed veteran Victor Caratini in December. But the job is clearly Diaz’s for the long term.
Diaz batted.282 with 23 home runs and 60 RBI in 104 games. He ended up finishing fifth in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
The rookie season also led to a $333,108 bonus for Diaz based on the pre-arbitration bonus pool for young players that don’t have the service time for arbitration but out-perform their current pay based on a WAR formula and bonuses for individual league-wide awards.
Diaz was signed by the Cleveland Guardians as an international free-agent in late 2016 and spent his first four full pro seasons in the Guardians’ system, reaching Single-A.
The Astros acquired Diaz along with reliever Phil Maton at the 2021 trade deadline for outfielder Myles Straw. While Maton helped the Astros win a World Series title in 2022, Diaz continued to work his way through the Astros’ system until he was first called up in late 2022. That same season he was named the Astros’ Minor League Player of the Year.
He made the Astros’ Opening-Day roster last season.
The rest of the team includes Baltimore third baseman Gunnar Henderson, Cincinnati shortstop Matt McLain, Minnesota second baseman Edouard Julien, Boston first baseman Tristan Casas, Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder James Outman, Colorado Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones, Cincinnati utility player Spencer Steer, New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga and Baltimore relief pitcher Yennier Cano.
Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros for Sports Illustrated/FanNation.
