Hayden Wesneski has given the Astros something they’ve been chasing all season: a starter who can settle things down and keep them that way.
Over his last two outings, Wesneski has looked like a different arm, and the best example came in New York, where he worked five innings, allowed three hits and one run, and helped Houston win the series against the Yankees. In August, he made six starts, went 4-1, and posted a 3.86 ERA. The Astros won five of those six games, a welcome change with Peter Lambert, Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai and Ronel Blanco all running into uneven stretches in the rotation.
The ERA, though, doesn’t tell the full story. Wesneski has gone at least five innings in five of those six starts, and one rough frame is doing a lot of damage to the surface numbers. On August 15 against the Seattle Mariners at Daikin Park, he gave up five hits and four runs in the second inning, which dragged his overall line down and clouds the way his home work should be read.
That split is worth a closer look. Wesneski has a 4.20 ERA at home and a 3.57 ERA on the road, but the contact quality tells a different story.
Opponents have a .707 OPS against him away from home and only .604 when he’s pitching in Houston. He has already thrown more innings this year than he did last season - 32 ⅔ compared with 32 - and he’s done it in the same number of starts.
What’s also notable is where he’s doing damage. Wesneski has been the Astros’ most effective pitcher the second time through the order, an area that has hurt this team in recent seasons.
His .573 OPS in that spot is the best on the club this year. That’s over a sample of 54 batters faced, but it matters all the same, especially since he came to Houston last year with more of a reliever profile.
That’s a stark contrast with some of the other starters who have been asked to navigate similar traffic. Javier has allowed a 1.080 OPS in that situation, Blanco has allowed .858, and Imai has allowed .860.
Javier and Imai have had mixed results in relief as they get ready to handle a lineup once through. Blanco, meanwhile, returned Tuesday night and threw four straight scoreless innings on 88 pitches over four frames.
For Houston’s starters, getting through the order a second time has been one of the stubborn problems of the year. Wesneski has at least shown a path through it.
The pitch mix explains a lot of the turnaround. The vertical break on his four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup and slider has improved, while his sweeper - the pitch that has become his go-to - has actually lost break and dropped 3.6 mph from last year. Even so, the result has been better command and more trust in the pitch.
That’s a major shift from last season, when the four-seam fastball was his primary offering at 36.6%. Now the sweeper leads the way at 30.2%.
And hitters haven’t had much of a chance against it. In 32 plate appearances, they’ve managed only four hits, one of them a double, with 13 strikeouts.
The whiff rate sits at 42.6%, and opponents are batting .143 with a .167 xBA.
The fastball is in a good spot too, with hitters putting up just a .651 OPS against it. Wesneski still has some old habits to clean up - his sinker can get him in trouble, and his overall 99 wRC+ suggests there’s more work to do - but that’s still a clear step forward from the 135 wRC+ he has allowed over his career.
There’s also room for the curveball to take on a bigger role, and his background as a reliever could help him keep refining the mix. For now, the early returns are encouraging. The next month will show whether this version of Wesneski is the real thing, and whether he can help solve the Astros’ biggest rotation question: how to get consistent, durable work from their starters.
In Other News...
Astros Suddenly Have A Bullpen Problem In The AL West Race
The Astros bullpen took another hit this week when they placed left-hander Steven Okert on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Sept. 1 with a right hamstring strain. Bryan King was recalled to take his spot, giving Houston another arm as it tries to keep the late innings steady in the middle of a tense AL West race.
Okert has been one of Houstons most important setup options all season, leading the club with 21 holds. Losing him now only adds to the pressure on a relief group that has already had to carry a heavy load, and it leaves the Astros watching closely to see how quickly they can get one of their most trusted late-game pieces back. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Just Got The Rotation Boost They Desperately Needed
Cristian Javier gave Houston exactly the kind of lift its rotation had been chasing, working through the Diamondbacks lineup with poise in a 3-1 win. The Astros backed him with a three-run third inning, highlighted by Yainer Diazs home run, and the right-handers command and swing-and-miss stuff gave the club a much-needed sign that one of its key starters is settling back in.
The bigger question now is what this outing means over the next stretch, because Houston has been looking for stability behind its top arms and Javier looked a lot closer to the version that can change the tone of a series. Josh Hader finished it off with a clean ninth, but the real story for the Astros was the way Javier handled a lineup with little room for error and left the mound having put his team in position to breathe a little easier. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Rotation Trouble Is Putting A.J. Blubaughs Role Under Pressure
A.J. Blubaughs path to Houston has always pointed toward the rotation. He came up through the Astros farm system as a starter, and even now, with the big-league rotation hit by injuries and uneven results, his name naturally comes up when the club looks for help on the mound. Instead, Blubaugh has spent most of his time in the majors as a reliever, and he has handled that assignment well enough to earn manager Joe Espadas trust in late-game spots.
The question is whether that role can hold if Houston keeps searching for answers behind its front-line starters. Blubaugh has yet to get a look in the rotation this season, which makes his bullpen success a little bit of a double-edged sword: it helps the Astros now, but it may also be keeping him from the opportunity that once seemed like the clearest fit for his future. With the rotation still unsettled, his usage is one of those roster decisions worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]