NEW YORK - Brent Strom is back in the Astros’ orbit, and the move says plenty about where Houston is right now.
With the club still in first place but operating under a fresh baseball-operations structure after the dismissal of general manager Dana Brown earlier this week, Hall of Fame first baseman Jeff Bagwell reached out to Strom and brought the longtime pitching voice back as a consultant. Strom said he got the call from Bagwell “about 48 hours ago,” then checked with his wife, Carrie.
“She said, ‘Do it.’ And that was the answer,” Strom said before Saturday’s game against the New York Mets.
Strom, 77, isn’t walking in as a ceremonial figure. He made it clear he sees this as a working role, not a sentimental lap around old haunts.
“It’s exciting to come back,” he said. “I just want people to realize this is not a nostalgia tour for me at all. I’m here to help Josh and Ethan as much as I can - a different set of eyes and ears (to see) if I can help them in any way to help this team get in the playoffs.”
The “Josh and Ethan” in that quote are pitching coach Josh Miller and assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz, both of whom the Astros have leaned on heavily this season. Strom emphasized that he is there to support them, not replace them. Manager Joe Espada backed that up repeatedly Saturday, saying three times that the pair are doing “an incredible job.”
“It’s more of a new, fresh set of eyes,” Espada said. “How do we move forward in our future?
Is our program adapting, adjusting to what the hitters are doing differently? Those are the things I want to hear from Strommy.
It has nothing to do with the job Josh and Ethan are doing because they’re doing an incredible job.”
Strom also tried to head off any noise that his return might reflect on the current staff. He said he’s “had enough time in the spotlight to last a lifetime,” and described himself as a “complement” to Miller and Katz, who worked under him before taking over the Astros’ pitching jobs in 2022.
The timing of his return gives the whole arrangement extra intrigue. Houston’s pitching staff has been fighting through a rough year, entering Saturday with the sport’s sixth-highest ERA and tied with the Los Angeles Angels for the most walks in the American League. Bennett Sousa became the 18th Astros pitcher to start a game this season, which is a franchise record and a pretty stark sign of how much has gone sideways.
The club’s choice to use Sousa over Cristian Javier and Tatsuya Imai - who are making a combined $21.8 million this season - only sharpened that picture.
Strom can’t fix everything in a month, and he knows it. There are 27 games left, and Houston isn’t tearing the roster apart. But he already has a few things in mind, starting with the details that can be nudged rather than overhauled.
Before flying to New York, Strom studied Baseball Savant and FanGraphs, two sites he called his “favorite sites,” to get himself up to speed. One number jumped out: only six pitching staffs in baseball are throwing a lower percentage of first-pitch strikes than the Astros.
“That’s a concern,” Strom said.
He also believes pitch sequencing can be sharpened and that he can help there.
“Possibly just change the look that we give opposing teams,” Strom said. “We’ve been so successful as a pitching staff in the past at doing certain things; perhaps the league may have caught up to what our trends are. Maybe we can alter that a little bit and have a little bit more success.”
Saturday offered a glimpse of how Strom will be used. He’ll be in pregame meetings, watching bullpen work, helping with other pregame duties and sitting in the dugout during games.
Miller is already in the dugout, while Katz works from the bullpen. At the start of the game, Strom was leaning on the dugout railing beside catching coach Tim Cossins.
“Being back in a uniform, let alone an Astros uniform, is kind of different,” Strom said. “I didn’t know what leg to put on first.
It’s been a while since I’ve done this. I know one thing: This retirement job is the worst job I’ve ever had.
It’s a terrible job. I don’t recommend it to anybody.”
That part of the story doesn’t sound temporary. Strom spent the first four months of this season still locked in on the sport after coaching with the Arizona Diamondbacks and then the Pittsburgh Pirates over the past four years, and he’s remained close to some of his former pitchers, including Bryan Abreu.
Abreu said Saturday that Strom still matters to him.
“He means a lot to me,” Abreu said. “He always believed in me, always kept pushing me forward. If I need any advice, who is going to be better to ask than him?”
Strom and Abreu worked together in left field before the game, along with other Astros relievers, and Strom came away energized by the reunion.
“I had the time of my life working with my guys just now,” Strom said afterward. “I haven’t had that in months.”
The setup in Houston also leaves the door open for more than a short-term consult. Bagwell’s role in bringing Strom back reinforces the idea that there could be a longer runway for him in whatever form the organization takes after Brown’s departure. Strom sounded comfortable with that possibility, too.
“If I stay involved, it would be in the role I am here - consulting, something like that,” Strom said. “I don’t really have a desire to jump in and be the head guy anymore.
I’ve already done that gig. I don’t need that stress at this time in my life.”
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