2012 Houston Astros season

The 2012 Houston Astros season was the 51st season for the Major League Baseball franchise located in Houston, Texas, their 48th as the Astros, 51st in the National League, 19th in the NL Central division, and 13th at Minute Maid Park, The Astros entered the season as having finished in last place in the NL Central with 56–106 record and games behind, the first time in franchise history they had lost at least 100 games.
The 2012 season was the Astros' final season as members of the National League. Per the approval of the sale of the team from Drayton McLane to Jim Crane by the league, the Astros agreed to move to the American League, and to be situated in the American League West division, effective the following year. It was also the first season with Jeff Luhnow serving as general manager. On April 6, pitcher Wandy Rodríguez made the Opening Day start for the Astros, who hosted the Colorado Rockies, but were defeated, 5–3.
Second baseman Jose Altuve was selected to the MLB All-Star Game for the first time in his career, and played for the National League. In the first round of the June MLB draft, the Astros chose shortstop Carlos Correa as the first overall pick, and pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. at no. 41.
On August 18, manager Brad Mills was relieved of his duties and Tony DeFrancesco served in his place as interim manager. The Astros concluded the season in last place in the NL Central with a 55–107 record, 42 games out of first place. At the time, it established a new worst-record in franchise history, breaking the record set the season before, while being just the second year in which Houston had lost 100 or more games.

Regular season

Summary

;Opening Day starting lineup
To pay homage and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Houston Astros franchise, the players donned retro Colt.45s jerseys for play on April 10 and April 20. During the 1962, 1963, and 1964 seasons, Houston played as the Colt.45s prior to being renamed the Astros in 1965.
On April 13, Miami native J. D. Martinez hit the first-ever home run in the newly-opened Marlins Park. With a runner on in the eighth, he hit an Edward Mujica offering into the Clevelander Bar beyond the left-field wall to tie the contest with the team in their first season having been rebranded the Miami Marlins. Lucas Harrell also uncorked the first wild pitch at Marlins Park during this game.
The Astros' record on June 13 stood at 26–36 prior to play versus the San Francisco Giants. However, starter Matt Cain tossed his perfect game that day to defeat the Astros, 10–0. This was the first time in franchise history that no batters reached base safely for the Astros. Also, it was the first time the had been no-hit since Carlos Zambrano did so on September 14, 2008 for the Chicago Cubs, the fifth time overall the Astos had been no-hit and second by the Giants. The Astros' season spiraled afterward, going 29–81 the rest of the way.

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
	147	576	80	167	34	4	7	37	40	74	.290	33
	66	258	24	74	15	1	5	29	19	17	.287	0
	31	109	14	31	2	2	5	16	4	17	.284	0
	92	341	36	95	21	3	8	41	23	92	.279	4
	27	78	5	21	2	0	4	13	4	19	.269	0
	72	201	23	52	11	0	9	26	16	56	.259	0
	17	35	2	9	1	0	1	4	2	8	.257	0
	87	257	29	66	15	2	6	29	31	61	.257	0
	21	63	2	16	4	1	0	8	7	16	.254	1
	66	229	24	58	10	1	9	24	18	73	.253	0
	31	85	5	21	4	0	2	5	5	23	.247	0
	39	126	18	31	6	0	7	11	6	39	.246	3
	97	340	43	83	18	0	16	42	43	65	.244	2
	113	395	34	95	14	3	11	55	40	96	.241	0
Fernando Martínez	41	118	12	28	7	1	6	14	6	34	.237	0
Marwin González	80	205	21	48	13	0	2	12	13	29	.234	3
Justin Maxwell	124	315	46	72	13	3	18	53	32	114	.229	9
Travis Buck	33	74	7	16	5	1	0	6	6	18	.216	0
Jordan Schafer	106	313	40	66	10	2	4	23	36	106	.211	27
Brandon Barnes	43	98	8	20	3	0	1	7	5	29	.204	1
Brian Bogusevic	146	355	39	72	9	2	7	28	41	96	.203	15
Matt Downs	91	178	15	36	4	1	8	16	8	38	.202	2
Brian Bixler	36	88	11	17	6	0	2	7	7	36	.193	7
Jimmy Paredes	24	74	4	14	1	1	0	3	6	21	.189	2
Chris Snyder	76	221	23	39	8	0	7	24	33	70	.176	0
Pitcher totals	162	275	15	29	2	0	1	12	12	118	.105	0
Team totals	162	5407	583	1276	238	28	146	545	463	1365	.236	105

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Lucas Harrell	11	11	3.76	32	32	0	193.2	185	90	81	13	78	140
Bud Norris	7	13	4.65	29	29	0	168.1	165	90	87	23	66	165
Jordan Lyles	5	12	5.09	25	25	0	141.1	159	97	80	20	42	99
Wandy Rodríguez	7	9	3.79	21	21	0	130.2	134	66	55	13	32	89
J.A. Happ	7	9	4.83	18	18	0	104.1	112	58	56	17	39	98
Dallas Keuchel	3	8	5.27	16	16	0	85.1	93	56	50	14	39	38
Fernando Rodriguez	2	10	5.37	71	0	0	70.1	68	45	42	10	34	78
Wilton López	6	3	2.17	64	0	10	66.1	61	18	16	4	8	54
Rhiner Cruz	1	1	6.05	52	0	0	55.0	65	38	37	8	29	46
Wesley Wright	2	2	3.27	77	0	1	52.1	45	20	19	4	17	54
Fernando Abad	0	6	5.09	37	6	0	46.0	57	27	26	6	19	38
Brandon Lyon	0	2	3.25	37	0	0	36.0	37	13	13	3	11	35
Xavier Cedeño	0	1	3.77	44	0	1	31.0	30	15	13	3	14	36
Brett Myers	0	4	3.52	35	0	19	30.2	35	17	12	4	6	20
Mickey Storey	0	1	3.86	26	0	0	30.1	27	14	13	2	10	34
David Carpenter	0	2	6.07	30	0	0	29.2	43	21	20	4	14	27
Édgar González	3	1	5.04	6	6	0	25.0	23	14	14	3	8	18
Armando Galarraga	0	4	6.75	5	5	0	24.0	28	20	18	6	18	17
C.J. Fick	0	1	4.30	18	0	0	23.0	24	13	11	4	17	17
Héctor Ambriz	1	1	4.19	18	0	0	19.1	14	9	9	0	11	22
Enerio del Rosario	0	0	9.00	19	0	0	19.0	34	21	19	1	7	11
Kyle Weiland	0	3	6.62	3	3	0	17.2	24	13	13	5	7	13
José Valdez	0	0	2.25	12	0	0	12.0	12	4	3	1	8	10
Aneury Rodriguez	0	0	3.00	1	1	0	6.0	2	2	2	2	2	6
Francisco Cordero	0	3	19.80	6	0	0	5.0	13	11	11	2	4	5
Brian Bogusevic	0	0	18.00	1	0	0	1.0	3	2	2	1	0	0
Team totals	55	107	4.56	162	162	31	1423.1	1493	794	721	173	540	1170

Awards and achievements

Darryl Kile Good Guy Award: Jason Castro
Houston Astros Player of the Year: Lucas Harrell
MLB All-Star Game—Reserve infielder: Jose Altuve
Wilson Defensive Player of the Year—Astros: Justin Maxwell

Minor league system

;Championships

California League champions: Lancaster

;Awards

California League Most Valuable Player Award : A. J. Reed
Houston Astros Minor League Player of the Year: Jon Singleton, 1B
Texas League All-Star—Designated hitter: Jon Singleton