As the injuries this season continue to pile up across baseball, the Houston Astros added another pitcher to the mix of DL-bound starters. Bud Norris hit the 15-day disabled list today with a sprained knee. The move was made to free up roster space as lefty Dallas Keuchel will be making Norris’ start today.
Norris first started having issues after a hip flexor flared up on him earlier in the year. According to Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle, “The knee problems have been related to a struggle with a hip flexor injury that began on the Astros’ late-May road trip to Colorado.”
Norris was 5-4 with a 4.81 ERA this season in 13 starts. He has improved his strikeout ration this season to 10 per nine innings. His career ERA would indicate this season would have come back toward the mean and Norris should have been able to get his ERA down under 4.00. In 82 games over four seasons, Norris has a career ERA of 4.40. Last season, though, Norris posted a 3.77 ERA.
The Astros have been better than most thought they would be this season, but they haven’t quite reached the “respectable” level. They are 27-38 this season, ahead of just the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. Norris is just 27 and could help the Astros as they rebuild. He is under team control until 2016 and has his first arbitration-eligible year in 2013.
Dallas Keuchel, who will be starting today, was 5-4 with a 4.26 ERA in 13 starts at Triple-A Oklahoma City this year. This will be his Major League debut and he will face Colby Lewis and the Texas Rangers. Keuchel was not on the 40-mn roster, so the Astros had to make an additional move to add him. They moved Sergio Escalona to the 60-day DL to make room.
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