Who will start for the Astros Friday? Dan Straily

By Eric Huysman |

There has been much Astros speculation about who starts Friday night’s game versus the Red Sox at Fenway Park. When Brett Oberholtzer was sent down to Triple-A following his blowup against the New York Yankees, the Astros had some decisions to make about who would be the fifth starter until Scott Feldman was ready to return. The Astros also have to decide how to limit the innings on the arms of Lance McCullers Jr. and Vincent Velasquez to avoid having to shut them down prior to the playoffs. With this being said, the Astros will not likely go with a four-man rotation even with the off days or a six-man rotation to limit innings for the rookies.

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The Astros need a pitcher for Friday and in a radio interview with Sports Radio 790, Jeff Luhnow said that Friday’s pitcher is a current member of the Astros organization. This is squashing the rumors that a Scott Kazmir or Johnny Cueto trade will occur prior to the first game of the Red Sox series.

Someone on the 25-Man roster?

Which pitcher now on the 25-man roster could make the start on Friday? There are two possibilities for the Astros to start the game in Boston; they are Roberto Hernandez and Michael Feliz.

Hernandez has been used out of the bullpen and has been really effective out of the bullpen. Looking at the stats below via Baseball-Reference, Hernandez should be left in the bullpen.

Starter: 2-5/ 5.18 ERA/ 11 games/ 66 IP/ 31 SO

Bullpen: 0-0/ .69 ERA/ 5 games/ 13 IP/ 9 SO

Feliz has not made an appearance since he was recalled during the Yankees series and has started the entire season with Lancaster and Corpus Christi. However, in his short time with the Astros he has been viewed as a hard-throwing reliever.

Dan Straily gets the call

As I was writing this piece, Brian McTaggart tweeted, “I’m hearing it’s going to be Dan Straily starting for the Astros on Friday in Boston.”

I would have stated that it could be Asher Wojciechowski, Mark Appel, or Dan Straily, but now that we know, let’s look at what Straily has done this year at Fresno. Keep in mind that he got off to a rocky start, but figured out a mechanical issue that he was able to notice and make an adjustment to correct.

2015 Fresno: 6-6/ 4.06 ERA/ 14 games/ 70 SO in 77.2 innings.

Here are some quotes from a conversation I had with Straily earlier in the year. “Thanks, Man. Finally. Figured some stuff out,” Straily on pitching well that night. “Some small mechanical things I was doing in 2012-13 and I was not doing this year. Easy catch on film and fixed it. The slider was sharp, and the fastball was located again. Working hard to get back.”

After a disastrous 2014 season between the Oakland A’s and Chicago Cubs, Straily with a 1-3 record/ 6.75 ERA/ 47 strikeouts in 52 innings. In 2012-13, Straily had a 3.89 and 3.96 ERA respectively. A bounce-back performance by Straily will help solve the fifth starter in the rotation and help save some innings for the two rookies in the rotation.

The question is which player will be taken off the 25-man roster to recall Straily? I believe it will be one of the following players; Jon Singleton, Domingo Santana, or Michael Feliz. If it is Feliz, this kid has been on the roster for about a 7-10 day period and has only had one appearance.

Welcome back to the show Dan Straily, it’s your time to shine.

Next: Houston Astros: CTH’s July Trade Deadline Preview

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