Houston Astros: Dallas Keuchel hasn’t escaped his haphazard ways

2016: A year to forget

Keuchel will be the first to admit it. He “sucked” during the 2016 campaign.

The lefty was the first to secure a Cy Young award for the franchise since Roger Clemens captured the National League title in 2004. Yet, the Arkansas alumnus posted a 5.58 ERA across the first two months of the year as his encore.

After toiling through a 230-inning season the year prior, Keuchel didn’t feel healthy. And it showed throughout the tiresome season.

“It was like I was using a rubber band and shooting it to the sky to get (the ball) 60 feet. I knew something was wrong from the get-go, and nothing helped,” Keuchel told USA Today’s Ted Berg of his 2016 season.

His velocity dropped, and his sinker didn’t bite. He punched out 72 fewer hitters while allowing 20 homers in just 168 innings. The lefty surrendered just 28 bombs in his 432 innings across 2014 and 2015.

Keuchel didn’t confound opposing hitters. Instead, he made them shine. They slugged .424 against him, .100 points greater than in 2015.

At 28 years old, the Houston ace was at a crossroads. It seemed too late to revamp his workload or fabricate a new identity. He still had tools to be successful.

But Keuchel couldn’t survive another pedestrian year. With the Astros improving as a franchise, he had to reestablish himself to retain his job at the head of the rotation.

And that’s what Keuchel did, just as fans seemed to throw in the towel.