What Should the Houston Astros do with Their Pitching Rotation?

The Houston Astros had supposedly been active in the trade market in search of a starting pitcher, seeing as how their starting rotation was the one thing that was holding them back. Dallas Keuchel is a monster among men, but aside from him, the Astros had a ton of question marks. Collin McHugh has not looked like last year. Not one bit. Every couple of games he will put up a real gem but there is no consistency.

Next to him, there was the enigmatic Scott Feldman and the blister kingpin, Brett Oberholtzer. Roberto Hernandez (formerly Fausto Carmona) had his go but he did not pan out either.

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A trade seemed the only option.

However, seemingly out of nowhere, Lance McCullers and Vincent Velasquez seemed to fit right in and give the Houston Astros three and a half bonafide starters.

We will start with McCullers. At just 21 years of age, the youngster has put up an impressive 4-2 record with a 2.16 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 61 strikeouts in 58.1 innings pitched across 10 starts. That is quite the impressive stat line from a guy who is just now legally able to have a brew. So impressive, in fact, that he became a shoe-in for giving up three runs or less. He still had problems going deep into games, but he is only 21.

Then there is Vincent Velasquez, now 23 years old. Velasquez may not have latched on as quickly as McCullers did, but his returns are incredibly positive as well. a 3.94 ERA resulted from the culmination of getting acclimated at the Major League level and 31 strikeouts in 32 innings proved that he had the stuff to miss bats as well. However, he, too, had problems getting deep into games.

Just like that, both of those guys have been limited due to concerns over their innings count. Velasquez has been optioned to Triple-A and McCullers has been pushed back in the rotation.

Lets switch things up and start with Velasquez this time. After one of his best starts to the season, Velasquez was optioned to keep him fresh (according to the Crawfish Boxes). It came as a bit of a surprise to see innings become a factor so early in the season, but perhaps the idea is to preserve his innings for the playoff push.

McCullers was not optioned, however, his start was pushed back as the 21 year old looks to preserve his delicate arm. Manager A.J. Hinch is still debating what to do: “How are we going to utilize the break to insert a little bit of rest for McCullers? Velasquez, same story,” he said via the Chron.

Stepping into the rotation was sudden-hot-head Brett Oberholtzer and the guy everyone forgot about, Dan Straily. Neither of those pitchers instills me with any confidence and I would prefer our two young guns to them any day, but my name is not A.J. Hinch.

Oberholtzer was dismantled mentally and physically last time out against the New York Yankees. He went 1.1 innings, gave up 6 earned runs, 2 home runs and despite doing a service to humanity and throwing at Alex Rodriguez, he was tossed and decided to treat the Gatorade cooler as if it was the living being that ruined his day. He was optioned immediately but has returned for his glorious, donkey-mounted, palm-branch-trodding return to Houston, where he hopes to find an opponent other than the Yankees. And he will.

Straily is an interesting option as well. He has given up 6 runs in just 10.2 innings pitched, but his starts are gradually getting better (if two starts can be considered ‘gradual’). The jury is still out on him so we will have to wait and see what he can do.

The young guys were doing a real bang-up job, however, they were deemed too young to be putting that much strain on their arm. So what is the plan in the long run?

Ideally, you would want to see a consistent 5-man rotation that is not a revolving door, but that is what it is becoming. The only pitchers that bring massive confidence for a win to the mound are Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers, with Velasquez coming around as well. Behind them, the rotation is an enigma. They could give more young guys a shot, but the only two that could even remotely be painted as ready are Josh Hader and Mark Appel.

Mark Appel is not ready (contradiction? keep reading) but he is 23 years old and could rise to the occasion. His Triple-A numbers are a bit unsettling, however, as he has thrown 15.1 innings and given up 10 earned runs.

Josh Hader is currently rocking out at Double-A, right where McCullers and Velasquez were before being called up. He has a much more consistent stat line, as he has a solid 3.23 ERA across 61.1 innings pitched and a strikout count of 63. It may be his time soon.

A.J. Hinch appears to be as unsure about his decision as everyone else is, so it will be interesting to see how he keeps this team in the playoff race and hopefully in first place while balancing a rotation that could get up to eight men in it. Lets just hope Dallas Keuchel can keep winning.