Astros’ All-Time Best Seasons: Starting Pitchers

Aug 17, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher

(60) throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels during the game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

This is the ninth edition of our Astros’ All-Time Best Seasons Series. If you want to catch up on the other positions that we’ve covered in this series, you can check them out here:

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• Catchers
• First basemen
• Second basemen
• Third basemen
• Shortstops
• Leftfielders
• Centerfielders
• Rightfielders

Personally, this is my second contribution to the series, as I wrote the article on the Astros’ All-Time Best Seasons at Third Base. Now the reason I bring up that article is because I will be structuring this article very much the same way. I will be taking a heavily statistics-based stance by looking at statistics from that season and comparing that player’s season to the rest of the league.

Over the course of the past 50-plus years, the Houston Astros have had some great pitchers take the mound. Before I mention five pitchers who had some truly magical seasons, I want to talk about one current Astro pitcher that didn’t make the list: Dallas Keuchel.

Dallas Keuchel had a great 2014 season, finishing with five complete games (1st in AL), a 2.93 ERA (7th in AL), and a 1.18 WHIP (12th in AL). Keuchel was also named AL Player of the Week on May 26, 2014 and was awarded for his efforts in the field by being named as a Rawlings Gold Glove Award Winner. It was a very solid season for Dallas Keuchel, but as you will read in a bit, just not enough to be put amongst the top 5 in Astros history. At the same time, it is a great sign that Dallas Keuchel entered the conversation in 2014, perhaps poised to break down the door and become a great Astros ace in 2015.

Now, let’s get to the top five.

Next: 1979: Joe Niekro