Houston Astros Spring Training Battles: 4th/5th Starters

LANCE MCCULLERS

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

• Just how much better is the Houston Astros playoff rotation than the rest?
• Houston Astros: A Lineup Change to Spark Offense
• Astros prospect Hunter Brown throws 6 shutout innings in debut
• Always faithful Astros World Series champion Josh Reddick defends the title
• Michael Conforto declines Astros’ 2-year, $30 million offer

McCullers’ 2.8 WAR over 125.2 IP was better than Yordano Ventura, Wade Miley, Jeff Samardzija, Garrett Richards, Jason Hammel, Scott Kazmir, and Mike Fiers, to name a few.

As the entire Astros organization and fan base clamors to see what McCullers can do with a full season, Jeff Luhnow announced that McCullers will have his innings limited in 2016. McCullers is only 22 years old and has established himself as a long-term force in the Astros’ rotation, so he must be protected in the long-term.

It will be interesting to see how his innings limit is handled, which is why he is not a certain lock to start 2016 as a starter at the MLB level.

But you can expect to see him in September and October. Let’s not forget McCullers’ gem in the dreaded Game 4 of the ALDS, holding the Royals to two hits over 6.1 innings with 7 strikeouts. Something else happened that game, but we can’t quite remember.

Next: Doug Fister