The early portion of the 2024 season has not gone well for the Houston Astros.

Their pitching staff got completely decimated with injury and the offense hasn’t quite looked like the juggernaut they’ve been in the past.

Sitting with a 6-14 record entering Friday’s slate of games, they need to start figuring out ways they can put together wins while they wait for their starting pitching staff to get healthy.

They get a boost with Justin Verlander making his return against the Washington Nationals, but it’s tough to know what to really expect after his rehab starts.

One area that can be improved comes from their star hitters.

According to Chandler Rome of The Athletic, the Astros’ have a .506 in “Late & Close” situations that is defined by Baseball Reference as a plate appearance in the seventh inning or later with the batter’s team tied, ahead by a run or having the tying run at least on deck.

Rome notes that the big four of Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker have all had 12 plate appearances in these situations, but outside of their star second baseman, nobody has performed well.

Alvarez is 1-11, Bregman is 2-11, and Tucker is 2-8.

As a team, they are slashing .217/.269/.237 during their 104 plate appearances in “Late & Close” situations.

The league average OPS during these opportunities was .679 entering Friday.

Yes, the pitching has certainly put them in a hole that has been tough to climb out of even with an offense as potent as Houston’s, but their star hitters also need to be much better than what they’ve shown so far during this stretch.

Based on how their players have performed in the past, it’s safe to say that they will turn things around.

Hopefully for the Astros, that turnaround comes much sooner than later.