Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we maintain and update our existing Top 50 lists annually.  As such, we are delighted to present our pre-2026 revision of our top 50 Houston Astros.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following: 

1.  Duration and Impact.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the Major League Baseball.

3.  Advanced Statistics.

4.  Playoff performance.

5. Their respective legacy on the team.

6. How successful the team was when he was there.

7. Respecting the era in which they played.

Criteria 1-4 will make up the lion’s share of the algorithm.  Please note that we have implemented this for the first time.  This has changed the rankings all throughout the board.

Last year, the Astros won 87 games, but it was not enough to make the playoffs.  Nevertheless, there was movement within our Top 50, and one new entrant.

As always, we present our top five, which differs from last year's, due to the new algorithm.

1. Jeff Bagwell
2. Craig Biggio
3. Jose Altuve
4. Lance Berkman
5. Cesar Cedeno

You can find the entire list here.

A couple of notes within the top five.  Jose Altuve was ranked#3 last year and remains at that spot.  Lance Berkman and Cesar Cedeno swapped spots.

Designated Hitter Yordan Alvarez went up to spots to #17.

Pitcher Framber Valdez, who is now with the Detroit Tigers, advanced one spot to #30.

The new entrant was Shortstop Jeremy Pena, who was an All-Star last year.  He debuts at #36.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

Jeremy Peña joined the Houston organization as a third-round selection in the 2018 draft out of the University of Maine, and after a stellar minor league apprenticeship was interrupted by a wrist injury in 2021, he debuted in 2022 and immediately secured his place as a core pillar of the team's ongoing dynasty.

In 2022, he demonstrated a specialized ability to handle the spotlight, becoming the first rookie shortstop in history to win a Gold Glove Award. He surged into the national consciousness that October, delivering a historic postseason run where he earned both ALCS and World Series MVP honors—a feat that signaled the arrival of a foundational star. This period of rapid growth served as the essential lead-in to his role as a durable mainstay, showing the organization that his defensive range and situational hitting were the perfect engines for a championship-caliber roster.

Peña’s journey reached a new level of offensive efficiency during the 2025 campaign. That summer, he evolved into a premier top-of-the-order threat, recording a career-high .304 batting average and a .363 on-base percentage. He showed the organization that he was a foundational winner by earning his first All-Star selection and leading the American League with a career-best 5.6 bWAR. He possessed a rare, durable quality that saw him become the first primary shortstop in franchise history to record at least 15 home runs and 20 stolen bases in back-to-back seasons (2024–2025). Despite a late-season injury that required a focused recovery, he returned with a veteran-like poise, finishing tenth in the AL MVP voting and proving he was much more than just a defensive specialist.

Houston has a gem in Pena moving forward.