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Trading Kyle Tucker was a risky decision that the Houston Astros made. Yes, it definitely made sense to get something for him if they knew he was going to leave in free agency the following winter, but dealing him meant that they were losing an MVP-caliber player, and that’d hurt them for the 2025 season. But it turns out that the Astros have missed his presence in their lineup in more ways than they could’ve imagined.

Isaac Paredes has been good, but he’s not Kyle Tucker, and Cam Smith has had an underwhelming start to his MLB career. Those are the hitters that they got for him — not great. Perhaps the worst result of this deal, though, is that the Astros are ridiculously right-handed.

Their struggles against right-handed pitching have highlighted the significant impact of this issue.

Kyle Tucker trade has aged poorly for reason Astros fans discounted

The Astros rank 24th in the majors as of this writing with a .697 OPS against right-handed pitchers. Somehow, teams like the Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins have had more luck against righties than the Astros have. As a result, teams have been able to simply use every right-hander they’ve had against Houston, and given the fact that they’re only one game over .500, it’s worked out quite well.

To be fair, the Astros are not normally entirely right-handed. They are without Yordan Alvarez, who has been sidelined since early May with a strained hand. Still, even with Alvarez healthy, the only other players who can even hit left-handed on their active roster are Victor Caratini and Cesar Salazar, the team’s second- and third-string catchers. That isn’t good enough.

There was reason to believe that the trade would’ve hurt them this season, given how good of a player Tucker is, but it was easy to forget the fact that Tucker was really their only other regular left-handed hitter in their lineup. Being predominantly right-handed isn’t the worst thing in the world, but especially with Alvarez out, the Astros are virtually entirely right-handed. It makes them much easier to pitch against.

This is an issue that the Astros, hopefully, will address sooner rather than later on the trade market.