Astros Spring Notes: Don’t Forget About Joseph Musgrove

The Astros may have to find space in their starting rotation for one pitcher.

If you follow Spring Training baseball, then you noticed that the Astros lost again to the New York Mets. This time it was by the score of 3-1, which isn’t a trouncing. Once again, I feel like it is mandatory to mention that Spring Training results doesn’t matter in the slightest. Or it shouldn’t.

Anyway, the main point of this morning’s post is to concentrate on the fine details of this baseball game. For example, Joseph Musgrove is continuing to pitch well.

In his second appearance this spring, Musgrove threw three shutout innings while allowing just two hits and a walk. When compared to the Astros other starting pitchers not named Charlie Morton, this has to be a welcomed development.

Look for Musgrove to compete with Mike Fiers for that last job in the starting rotation. And I think there is a possibility that he could win the job over Fiers. While there is no denying that Fiers can pitch well, Musgrove’s upside could sway the Astros. He did make ten starts last season and managed to hold his own as opponents came away with a .758 OPS against him.

Moving on the Astros managed to keep the Mets offense in check. Outside of David Paulino and his three earned runs, the bullpen looked fine. Luke Gregerson tossed a scoreless inning. Ken Giles did the same. James Hoyt picked up two strikeouts in his scoreless inning. And Kevin Chapman didn’t implode this time. Progress was made.

Next: Astros Spring Notes, Charlie Morton Brought the Heat

The offense on the other hand did not look the best outside of Carlos Beltran‘s solo home run. But what can you expect from Spring Training? Players are still ramping up for the upcoming season. The hits will eventually come. In fact, we haven’t seen the offense at full strength yet. So let’s just take a chill pill for a while about the struggles, shall we?

**Statistics courtesy of MLB.com**