Yainer Diaz

Yainer Diaz

26-Year-Old CatcherC
Houston Astros
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Diaz took over as Houston's primary backstop in 2024 and hit 16 homers with a .299/.325/.441 slash line in 148 games, with 99 of those starts coming behind the plate. He was unable to recreate the 23 home runs and .846 OPS he posted in 2023, but the regression isn't a major surprise since he's now handling the most demanding defensive position after previously working as the secondary option. He was also much more productive in the second half of 2024 as he got more comfortable with the added defensive responsibilities. It wouldn't be surprising if Diaz cracks the 20-homer plateau in 2025, and there's plenty of potential for counting stats given Houston's strong lineup. He should again be a reliable fantasy catcher with enough upside to be one of the better producers at the position. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#56
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Astros in March of 2025.
Idle Wednesday
CHouston Astros
May 28, 2025
Diaz is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Athletics.
ANALYSIS
After catching back-to-back games, Diaz will cede to Victor Caratini behind the dish Wednesday. Diaz is slashing .232/.273/.362 in 187 plate appearances this season.
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Batting Stats
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2025
2024
2023
2022
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
6
17
13
4
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
3
3
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+5%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
+33%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+7%
OPS vs LHP
2023
 
 
+50%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023vs Left .745 304 41 11 40 1 .274 .306 .439
Since 2023vs Right .782 885 99 34 127 1 .286 .313 .469
2025vs Left .823 31 6 2 6 0 .300 .323 .500
2025vs Right .618 162 13 4 17 0 .222 .265 .353
2024vs Left .806 170 22 6 25 1 .306 .341 .465
2024vs Right .751 449 48 10 59 1 .297 .318 .432
2023vs Left .620 103 13 3 9 0 .214 .243 .378
2023vs Right .931 274 38 20 51 0 .307 .332 .599
More Splits View More Split Stats
Minor League Splits View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+32%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+33%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+29%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+37%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023Home .874 615 87 27 98 1 .323 .348 .526
Since 2023Away .662 574 53 18 69 1 .240 .272 .390
2025Home .735 106 12 3 17 0 .273 .321 .414
2025Away .552 87 7 3 6 0 .190 .218 .333
2024Home .860 314 45 10 46 1 .337 .357 .503
2024Away .667 305 25 6 38 1 .260 .292 .375
2023Home .972 195 30 14 35 0 .328 .349 .624
2023Away .708 182 21 9 25 0 .231 .264 .444
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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
0.22
 
BB Rate
4.2%
 
K Rate
19.6%
 
BABIP
.263
 
ISO
.128
 
AVG
.229
 
OBP
.270
 
SLG
.358
 
OPS
.627
 
wOBA
.278
 
Exit Velocity
90.2 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
33.8%
 
Barrels/PA
6.9%
 
Expected BA
.262
 
Expected SLG
.466
 
Sprint Speed
21.1 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
43.0%
 
Line Drive %
18.3%
 
Fly Ball %
38.7%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Yainer Diaz See More
MLB DFS Pitcher & Team Stacks Guide for Tuesday, May 27
3 days ago
Ryan Pohle takes a deeper look into team stacks and pitchers for Tuesday's MLB slate, including Houston's Hunter Brown in a matchup against the Athletics.
Weekly Hitter Rankings: Top Fantasy Baseball Batters to Target
6 days ago
The Jays and Rays carry a full slate of games while the Cubs should continue to impress offensively at home.
MLB DFS Pitcher & Team Stacks Guide for Friday, May 22
7 days ago
Ryan Pohle dives into team stacks and pitchers for Friday's MLB slate, including Chris Sale in a matchup against the struggling Padres.
Weekly Hitter Rankings: Top Fantasy Baseball Batters to Target
13 days ago
There will be many MLB clubs on seven games this week, including a Rockies offense projected for lots of runs based on a full allotment of home matchups.
MLB DFS Pitcher & Team Stacks Guide for Wednesday, May 14
16 days ago
Ryan Pohle takes a deeper look into team stacks and pitchers for Wednesday's MLB slate, including the Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a matchup against the Athletics.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
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.
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
Not starting Saturday
CHouston Astros
May 24, 2025
Diaz isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the Mariners, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Taking seat Tuesday
CHouston Astros
May 20, 2025
Diaz is absent from the lineup for Tuesday's contest in Tampa Bay.
ANALYSIS
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Pops fifth homer
CHouston Astros
May 18, 2025
Diaz went 1-for-4 with a solo home run Sunday against the Rangers.
ANALYSIS
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Goes deep in win
CHouston Astros
May 11, 2025
Diaz went 1-for-5 with a three-run homer in Sunday's win over the Reds.
ANALYSIS
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Hits in six straight
CHouston Astros
May 8, 2025
Diaz went 1-for-5 with a double and two RBI on Wednesday.
ANALYSIS
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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.
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