Yainer Diaz

Yainer Diaz

25-Year-Old CatcherC
Houston Astros
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Despite serving as the No. 2 option in Houston behind Martin Maldonado, Diaz cracked 23 homers and finished as a top-12 fantasy catcher last season. Diaz slashed .282/.308/.538 and Statcast says he actually underperformed in regards to batting average and slugging -- his .287 xBA and .546 xSLG both ranked in the top eight percent of the league. Diaz is not particularly interested in taking walks (2.9 BB%) and his chase rate leaves open some questions about the sustainability of his contact. Further, Diaz's 21.9% HR/FB seems destined to fall, even with the boost provided by the Crawford Boxes. That being said, the Astros have already committed to Diaz being "the main guy" in 2024, and any giveback in the rate stats should in theory be softened by an increase in playing time. He wasn't a big name when he was traded in 2021, but fast forward a few years and Diaz is looking like a key piece on a championship-caliber ballclub. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#103
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Astros in March of 2024.
Three hits Sunday
CHouston Astros
September 9, 2024
Diaz went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI in Sunday's loss to the Diamondbacks.
ANALYSIS
Diaz posted his first three-hit game since Aug. 7 and his eighth multi-hit game since Aug. 17. He's got nine RBI over his last eight games and leads all catchers with 153 hits and a .299 average for the year. Overall, he's slashing .299/.325/.451 with 16 homers, 81 RBI, 63 runs, two steals and a 22:91 BB:K in 544 plate appearances.
Read More News
Batting Stats
Loading Batting Stats...
2024
2023
2022
2024 MLB Game Log
calculator icon
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Scoring
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo DFS
Sorare
Loading Batting Game Log...
2023 MLB Game Log
calculator icon
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Scoring
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo DFS
Sorare
Loading Batting Game Log...
2022 MLB Game Log
calculator icon
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Scoring
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo DFS
Sorare
Loading Batting Game Log...
Minor League Game Log
calculator icon
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Loading Minor League Batting Game Log...
Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
17
41
17
9
6
4
3
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
7
13
9
4
4
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+19%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+2%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+50%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .703 262 30 9 32 1 .253 .286 .416
Since 2022vs Right .837 696 85 30 110 1 .306 .330 .507
2024vs Left .767 157 17 6 23 1 .283 .318 .448
2024vs Right .779 415 47 10 58 1 .307 .330 .449
2023vs Left .620 103 13 3 9 0 .214 .243 .378
2023vs Right .931 274 38 20 51 0 .307 .332 .599
2022vs Left .000 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2022vs Right .619 7 0 0 1 0 .167 .286 .333
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+31%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+25%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+37%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
-100%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .906 480 69 24 78 1 .330 .352 .554
Since 2022Away .694 478 46 15 64 1 .252 .285 .409
2024Home .863 284 39 10 43 1 .333 .356 .507
2024Away .689 288 25 6 38 1 .268 .299 .390
2023Home .972 195 30 14 35 0 .328 .349 .624
2023Away .708 182 21 9 25 0 .231 .264 .444
2022Home .000 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2022Away .536 8 0 0 1 0 .143 .250 .286
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Yainer Diaz compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.24
 
BB Rate
4.0%
 
K Rate
16.8%
 
BABIP
.336
 
ISO
.148
 
AVG
.301
 
OBP
.327
 
SLG
.449
 
OPS
.776
 
wOBA
.337
 
Exit Velocity
90.0 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
31.5%
 
Barrels/PA
5.8%
 
Expected BA
.300
 
Expected SLG
.462
 
Sprint Speed
22.5 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
51.2%
 
Line Drive %
22.6%
 
Fly Ball %
26.2%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
Loading Advanced Batting Stats...
Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
Loading Games Played by Position...
Loading MLB Defensive Stats...
Batted Ball Stats
Loading Batted Ball Stats...
Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
Want more matchup stats?
Loading Matchup Stats...
Our full team depth charts are reserved for RotoWire subscribers.
Subscribe Now
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Yainer Diaz See More
Weekly Hitter Rankings: The Playoff Push
2 days ago
Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers are one of 14 teams with a seven-game schedule from September 16-22. Todd Zola highlights the matchups and unveils his weekly hitter rankings.
MLB DFS Picks: DraftKings Plays and Strategy for Saturday, September 14
2 days ago
Max Scherzer makes his return versus the most strikeout prone team in MLB and is in the pitcher pool for Saturday DraftKings MLB DFS contests.
Weekly Hitter Rankings: Scoring is Way Down
9 days ago
The Cleveland Guardians are one of six teams with seven games the week of September 9 to September 15. See how they and the rest of the MLB rank in Todd Zola's weekly hitter rankings.
The Z Files: What It Takes
13 days ago
Todd Zola provides some data to help you determine whether even Aaron Judge is capable of slugging your team into contention over the season's final stretch.
MLB DFS: DraftKings Plays and Strategy for Sunday, September 1
15 days ago
It's time to select a bunch of Yankees at home against the Cardinals for DraftKings Sunday MLB slate.
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Diaz is a good enough hitter that he should get backup catcher work this season and beyond. It will be his defensive development that determines whether he becomes a workhorse behind the plate. On lesser teams, he might get work at first base and designated hitter in addition to catcher, but those starts should be few and far between when the Astros are fully healthy. The one major flaw in Diaz's offensive game is how frequently (38% in the minors) he chases pitches out of the zone. He hit .306/.356/.542 with a 31.3 Hard% and 25 home runs in 105 games between Double-A and Triple-A. Despite his propensity to chase, Diaz logged a stellar 17.8 K% at Triple-A, but walked just 5.9% of the time. Diaz was age-appropriate for a catcher in the upper levels.
More Fantasy News
Sitting out matinee
CHouston Astros
August 28, 2024
Diaz is absent from the lineup for Wednesday's game in Philadelphia.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Goes deep Sunday
CHouston Astros
August 26, 2024
Diaz went 1-for-5 with a solo home run in Sunday's win over the Orioles.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Homers in three straight games
CHouston Astros
August 20, 2024
Diaz went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Tuesday's 6-5 loss to the Red Sox.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Belts walk-off blast
CHouston Astros
August 19, 2024
Diaz went 2-for-5 with a solo walk-off home run and an additional run in Monday's 5-4 win against the Red Sox.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Launches 12th homer
CHouston Astros
August 12, 2024
Diaz went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run Monday against the Rays.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Latest Fantasy Rumors
Option at first base?
CHouston Astros
July 20, 2024
The Astros could consider giving Diaz some playing time at first base, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
ANALYSIS
The 25-year-old has seen most of his playing time behind the plate this season but also has 24 starts at designated hitter. The Astros don't have a clear answer at first base since the release of Jose Abreu, as Jon Singleton likely isn't a long-term solution. Diaz has carried a hot bat since the start of June with an .834 OPS, and seeing some time at first base could help keep him in the lineup while keeping the DH spot open for Yordan Alvarez or other position players. Victor Caratini is closing in on a return from a hip strain, and once he's healthy it could open up a more versatile role for Diaz.
See All MLB Rumors