Yainer Diaz, catcher for the Houston Astros, continues to accumulate offseason honors with his performance in the 2023 season. On Tuesday, he was named to the Baseball Digest/eBay All-Star Rookie Lineup.The team was released by the MLB Network.

Diaz has already been named the Astros’ starting catcher for 2024, as he produced far more offensively than last year’s starter, Martín Maldonado. The veteran catcher signed with the Chicago White Sox earlier this offseason huston Astros rookie another accolade.

To augment the workload behind the plate the Astros signed veteran Victor Caratini in December. But the job is clearly Diaz’s for the long term.

In 104 games, Diaz batted.282 with 23 home runs and 60 RBI. In the end, he received the fifth-place vote for American League Rookie of the Year.

Based on the pre-arbitration bonus pool for young players who do not have the service time for arbitration but outperform their current pay based on a WAR methodology and bonuses for individual league-wide awards, Diaz was also awarded a $333,108 bonus for his rookie season.

Diaz was signed by the Cleveland Guardians as an international free-agent in late 2016 and spent his first four full pro seasons in the Guardians’ system, reaching Single-A.

The Astros acquired Diaz along with reliever Phil Maton at the 2021 trade deadline for outfielder Myles Straw. While Maton helped the Astros win a World Series title in 2022, Diaz continued to work his way through the Astros’ system until he was first called up in late 2022. That same season he was named the Astros’ Minor League Player of the Year.

He made the Astros’ Opening-Day roster last season.

Boston first baseman Tristan Casas, Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder James Outman, Colorado Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones, Cincinnati utility player Spencer Steer, New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga, Baltimore relief pitcher Yennier Cano, and Baltimore third baseman Gunnar Henderson round out the team.

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