Houston Astros: The Miley Chronicles, Vol. 3: Fastest windup in the West

Wade Miley has the fastest delivery this side of the Mississippi. The Houston Astros knew this and its one of the reason they picked him up.

Miley averages 19 seconds per pitch, shortest in the league, he is also not wasting any time showing the Astros why he is here in Houston. He is quickly gaining the opinion that maybe his 2012 All-Star and his 2018 postseason run with the Brewers wasn’t a fluke. Rather its the fruits of his labor.

STREAK ENDS, BUT SUCCESS CONTINUES

Coming into last night, Miley had the longest streak in the Major Leagues this season of allowing three runs or less in eight consecutive games. That may sound like bad news on the surface, but he still gave up just four runs total in last nights victory.

He may have only struck out five batters, but he was credited with his 6th quality start of the season. Pitching is literally a game of rhythm and inches, and honestly, whether or not you’re getting the calls from behind the plate.

According to fangraphs.com, although his FBv dropped to 89.6 last night, he still managed a 7.5 K/9 value. He is getting more velocity on his sliders and changeups which is a good thing when it comes to measurements like spin rate and other metrics the Astros are using these days.

No matter what stat you look at or sabermetric you use, Wade Miley has been consistent. That doesn’t always equal great, but with this offense, a pitcher quite honestly doesn’t have to be “Great”.

WADING THROUGH THE HIGHS AND LOWS

Despite giving up a two-run HR on a hanging curveball to Ronny Rodriguez, the clear hottest hitter in the Detroit lineup, Miley got his last three batters to either ground out or pop-up to get out of the inning. He did induce four swing and miss strikeouts, with his one other strikeout that came by mowing down the batter while looking.

This means that his opponents are going up there to hit, and Miley is moving the ball around enough that they aren’t making enough contact to get him out of the game.

No matter how you feel about Wade Miley, his value, or that the Houston Astros should have gone after a bigger name, look at his line this season.

Wade Miley #20: 9 GS, 51.1 IP, 4 wins 2 losses  35 Ks,  46 hits, 1.15 WHIP, 3.51 ERA, 20 runs, and only 13 BB

So it goes without saying ( I actually don’t like this phrase…) Wade Miley has met, nah, exceeded expectations. The Astros and Astros Nation hope it continues all the way the post season.