Houston Astros Superstar Compliments Surging Pitching Staff
The Houston Astros have seen more success in the past month than they have in a while, thanks in large part to a hobbled together pitching staff finding their groove.
Houston has seven different starting pitchers on the injured list currently and have worked their way to a .500 record for the first time this season after being 10 games behind just last month.
In speaking to Chandler Rome of The Athletic, superstar third baseman Alex Bregman was very complimentary of how the pitching staff has turned things around.
“The pitching staff has thrown the ball really well. Guys are really developing their repertoire," said Bregman. "We’ve had a lot of injuries to guys who have been mainstays in our rotation for a long time, but the guys who are stepping up now are really figuring out what works for them at the big-league level.”
One player that was not expected to be a huge factor in the rotation this year, but has had to become a regular starter is rookie Spencer Arrighetti.
In 14 starts this season he has a 5.68 ERA, while those numbers are exactly what you want from a starter, things have improved from a horrid start.
“That was the best I’ve felt all year today,” said Arrighetti to Rome. “Some of the velos would probably say the same thing. I haven’t hit 97 all year, so I think I’m starting to hit a trend in the right direction. I feel great.”
He hit 97 MPH on his four-seam fastball for the first time in Wednesday's start against the Colorado Rockies. It was easily his best outing of the season as he went seven innings while giving up three hits and striking out 10 batters.
The Astros' pitching staff as a whole ranks around the middle of the league in terms of WAR for the month of June. Average isn't the goal, but it's step up from their No. 28 ranking for the first few months of the campaign.
Hunter Brown is another young starter that has turned his season around.
Through his first 10 starts of the season, he had a 7.06 ERA and struggled to get past five innings of work.
Since then, he has upped his strikeout numbers and lowered his walks drastically in the process of getting his ERA down to 4.37. Once thought to be a lost cause, he's only had quality starts since the middle of May.
There is still work to do for the Astros to get back into the playoffs, but their young starters turning a page has played a huge part of the quality play over the past month.
DYLAN SANDERS
Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders