Houston Astros Mount Rushmore: The No-Drama Stars
The Astros have been the center of controversy over the past couple of years due to their sign-stealing starting back in 2017. As a franchise without much historical success, the team was able to benefit from a strong core and this advantage to capture their first championship. Regardless, the franchise’s history has been filled with easy-to-root-for players that deserve recognition, thus paving that way for the four best players to represent the Astros Mount Rushmore.
Jeff Bagwell
Bagwell was a must for inclusion in this list, having by far the highest WAR of any position player in Astros history. He also leads all Astros ever in home runs, RBI, walks, and ranks second in on-base percentage. He was a lifetime Astro who was a true star player every single year of his career, reached 4 All-Star games, and won the NL MVP Award back in 1994. There is no better player to start off this list, considering his loyalty to the franchise and ability to success in every aspect of the game, from power to speed to his glove.
Craig Biggio
Biggio, along with Bagwell and one other hitter to be talked about later, take up essentially the entirety of the Astros all-time hitting leaderboards. Among Astros all-time, Biggio ranks first in purely offensive WAR, third in home runs, second in RBI, and is the only person to record 3000 hits as an Astro. Like Bagwell, he was a lifetime Astro, reaching the All-Star game 7 times and winning the gold glove award 4 times. Over the course of his time with the Astros, the team experienced many ups and downs, including losing in the NLCS once and losing in the World Series once, but similarly to Bagwell, he remained loyal to the franchise.
Roy Oswalt
The only one on this list, Oswalt is for sure the best pitcher to ever wear the Astros jersey for an extended period of time. He leads the Astros all-time in pitching WAR (by a lot) and ranks second all-time in both wins and strikeouts by a pitcher. Oswalt spent the first 9 1/2 years of his career with the club, finishing top-5 in Cy Young Award voting 5 different times, never being able to finish on top. He led the league in wins in his fourth year and ERA in his sixth year, remaining a consistent star throughout his time with the club.
Lance Berkman
The third hitter who takes up many spots on the Astros leaderboards, Berkman was traded from the Astros during the 2010 season after spending his first 11 1/2 years with the team. Berkman ranks third all-time in Astros offensive WAR, second in home runs, third in RBI, third in walks, and third in runs scored, with only Bagwell and/or Biggio ahead of him on those lists. Without many superstar pitchers, Berkman is a great way to finish off this list, and he allowed the team to have star hitters from the 80s up until their rebuild started back in 2010.
