Yainer

Diaz

That’s expected to come soon. Diaz’s DWL season ended on Dec. 17 after he was hurt sliding into second base. Manager Joe Espada said the injury factored into Diaz being left off the Dominican Republic’s WBC roster. He likely would have been the choice to split time with Austin Wells behind the plate, but Agustín Ramírez ended up getting the nod.

Díaz and Austin Wells was the expected catcher duo for the club, but something changed there. Even with José Ramírez available, Albert Pujols’ club has arguably the best lineup in the tournament: RF Fernando Tatis Jr., LF Juan Soto, 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 2B Ketel Marte, 3B Manny Machado, CF Julio Rodríguez, DH Junior Caminero, SS Jeremy Peña/Geraldo Perdomo, C Wells. The rotation isn’t great beyond Cristopher Sánchez, but the team is a definite top contender.

Diaz won out after the Astros filed at just $3 million. The catcher hit .256 with 20 homers, 70 RBI and a 95/20 K/BB ratio over his 567 plate appearances with Houston in 2025.

It’s the first time that hard-hitting 27-year-old backstop is eligible for arbitration. MLBTradeRumors.com projected that he would earn $4.5 million via the arbitration process, so it seems far more likely that if it does go to a hearing that Diaz would ultimately win out. He’s coming off of another solid offensive season in which he slashed .256/.284/.417 with 20 homers, 70 RBI and a 95/20 K/BB ratio across 567 plate appearances.

Nothing official yet, but it doesn’t sound like it was serious. The injury occurred on a slide. Diaz, who is playing for Escogido, was 2-for-2 with an RBI before exiting.

Diaz would have finished up at 19 homers and 68 RBI with a .694 OPS had he sat this one out. Instead, he comes in at 20 homers and 70 RBI with a .701 OPS, all of which looks quite a bit better. Considering that his defense still draws mixed reviews, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Díaz become available in trade this winter. Still, the Astros would probably need to be able to re-sign Victor Caratini before weighing such a move.

Diaz got the scoring started in the second inning as he plated Christian Walker with an RBI single off of Bryce Elder. The 26-year-old backstop then raced around to score on Jeremy Peña’s two-run double. With his three-hit attack, Diaz is now slashing .259/.288/.422 with 19 homers and 64 RBI on the season.

In a game starved for offense, Diaz had the big hit with a solo home run off Blue Jays’ closer Jeff Hoffman in the ninth inning that proved to be the difference. He drove in the first run of the night too with a double in the second inning and hit each at least 104 mph.

Diaz returned to Houston’s lineup for Friday’s series opener following a three-game absence due to left wrist soreness. The 26-year-old backstop managed to avoid a trip to the injured list, but the Astros may continue to limit his workload in an effort to get him back to full strength.

Diaz is out as he continues to deal with soreness in his wrist. The 26-year-old will miss at least one ore game with César Salazar getting the start behind the plate.