Houston Astros Rising Star Did Something Last Year Never Seen in Modern Era

One of the Houston Astros rising stars did something last year that hadn't been seen in the modern era.

Aug 17, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown (58) reacts after a play during the third inning against the Chicago White Sox at Minute Maid Park / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros have to be content with the future of their starting rotation after Hunter Brown and Spencer Arighetti were able to rebound from their tough early months to showcase dominant stuff at times.

Arighetti came into the year ranked as one of the top prospects in the Astros' pipeline, and while he was expected to get some work at some point during the season, injuries forced him to play a major role prematurely.

His early struggles were understandable, but there were alarm bells going off when Brown was lit up in the month of April to the tune of an 11.84 ERA across his four starts where he allowed 33 hits and walked 12 batters in 19 innings pitched.

One outing he had was particularly a nightmare.

In fact, Jayson Stark of The Athletic revisited Brown's start on April 11 when he faced 14 batters in the first inning, something that had never been done before.

"It must be hard to face that many hitters in the first inning (especially without even getting three outs). I'm only guessing that because no starter in the modern era had ever done it before Brown's mind-blowing 11-hit, nine-run evening for the Astros versus Kansas City," he wrote.

Thankfully, the young starter was able to overcome this disastrous month.

Brown finished with a 3.49 ERA across 31 outings with 30 starts, striking out 179 batters in 170 innings pitched to give him an ERA+ that was 13 points above the league average.

With him being just 26 years old, the future is bright for the youngster.

What's funny about Stark pointing out this historically bad moment is that this outing was almost the last straw for Houston during his early struggles that might caused them to send him down to the minors if there weren't so many players on the injured list.

Instead, they kept him in the rotation, something that proved to be a huge benefit since he bounced back with a 3.42 ERA in May and dominant stretches throughout the rest of the season.