Yainer Diaz #21

Yainer’s first name is pronounced as “YIGH-ner” with the first syllable (YIGH) rhyming with the word sigh...according to Yainer, the Y in his first name is pronounced at the midway point between a hard Y and a soft J, but not close to a hard J...Yainer was born, raised and currently resides in the offseason in Azua, Dominican Republic...Azua is on the southern coast of the Dominican, about a 90-minute drive straight west from the nation’s capital of Santo Domingo...Diaz was originally signed out of Azua by the Cleveland organization on Dec. 7, 2016, at the age of 18...would play parts of five seasons with Cleveland prior to his trade to Houston in 2021...At the 2021 trading deadline, the Astros were looking for relief help and made three trades to bolster their bullpen, acquiring RHP Phil Maton from the Guardians, RHP Yimi Garcia from the Marlins, and RHP Kendall Graveman and RHP Rafael Montero from the Mariners...Diaz was acquired along with Maton from Cleveland and by most media was considered just a footnote in the deal...After just a year in the Astros system, Diaz blossomed into a prospect and was named the club’s 2022 Minor League Player of the Year...a year later, he was in the Majors for the entirety of the 2023 season, serving as the backup to C Martín Maldonado...he enters the 2024 season as the Astros primary catcher...Added to the Astros 40-man roster on Sept. 1, 2022, and has been with the MLB club since that date...is currently signed to a one-year contract for the 2024 season...with just over 1.000 year of service, is under club control through at least the 2028 season.

2023

In his first full Major League season, the 25-year-old backstop had one of the most prolific power campaigns from an Astros rookie...Batted .282 (100x355) with 23 home runs, 60 RBI, 22 doubles and an .846 OPS (.308 OBP/.538 SLG) in 110 games...Named the Astros Rookie of the Year by the Houston Chapter of the BBWAA...His 23 homers were the second-most home runs by an Astros rookie in a single season, trailing only Yordan Alvarez who had 27 HR in 2019...Became the seventh Astros rookie to reach 20-plus homers in a season...Made 42 starts at catcher, 36 at DH and seven starts at 1B...Of his 23 HR this season, he hit 14 as a catcher...Tied C Mitch Meluskey (2000) for the most homers by a rookie catcher in franchise history with 14...Became the eighth Astros rookie to reach 10+ home runs prior to the All-Star Break (10 HR), with SS Jeremy Pe?a (13 HR) the last do so in ‘22...Ranked tied for eighth in the AL in catcher caught stealing (13), despite only making 42 starts at catcher...Among AL rookies with 350+ plate appearances, ranked first in slugging percentage (.538), second in batting average, second in OPS (.846), tied for third in HR, sixth in extra-base hits (45) and tied for fifth in RBI...Batted .328 (61x186) with 14 home runs, 35 RBI and a .972 OPS in five games at home this year...Made his first career Opening Day roster this season...Was ranked as the Astros No. 2 prospect by MLBPipeline.com in its pre-season rankings...Made his first career start at 1B on May 10 at LAA...Went 4x5 with two doubles and run scored on June 5 at TOR...was his first career four-hit game...Became the 12th Astros player in franchise history to record a four-hit game within their first 31 career MLB games and first since OF Jose Siri on Sept. 13, 2021 at TEX...Recorded the first multi-homer game of his career on July 5 vs. COL...Was the first multi-homer game from an Astros rookie catcher since C Mitch Meluskey did so in 2000...Recorded his first career walk-off hit with an RBI single on July 24 vs. TEX...Hit his 1st career pinch-hit home run on Aug. 27 at DET...Was the first pinch-hit homer by an Astros player whose primary position is catcher since Jason Castro on Sept. 23, 2021, at LAA...In the postseason, hit .071 (1x14), making one start at DH (ALDS GM 3 at MIN).

2022

Hit .125 (1x8) with a double and an RBI in six games for the Astros, in what was his MLB debut...Had a banner 2022 Minor League season, earning the Astros Minor League Player of the Year honors... was also named an MiLB.com Organizational ALLSTAR and played in the Futures Game...Combined to hit .306 (136x445) with 22 doubles, four triples, 25 homers, 96 RBI and an .898 OPS between the Double A and Triple A levels...reached career highs in homers and games...Was selected to the Major League roster on Sept. 1 and made his MLB debut on Sept. 2 at LAA, going 0x3 with a walk and an RBI...recorded his only MLB hit on Sept. 20 at TB, a double off RHP Javy Guerra...Was active on the Astros roster for the entirety of September, accruing 35 days of service...stayed with the club through the Postseason, but was not on an active roster for any round.