Astros: Ryan Pressly goes on Injured List, Bryan Abreu called up

MONTERREY, MEXICO - MAY 05: Ryan Pressly, #55 of the Houston Astros, pitches on the sevent inning of the Houston Astros vs Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim match as part of the Mexico Series at Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey on May 05, 2019 in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. (Photo by Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images)
MONTERREY, MEXICO - MAY 05: Ryan Pressly, #55 of the Houston Astros, pitches on the sevent inning of the Houston Astros vs Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim match as part of the Mexico Series at Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey on May 05, 2019 in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. (Photo by Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images) /
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The injury bug continues to plague the Astros pitching staff. Ryan Pressly has been placed on the Injured List and Bryan Abreu is being called up.

Astros relief pitcher Ryan Pressly has been nursing a sore knee ever since he was struck by a ball off the bat of Andrelton Simmons on July 18th. He has pitched in a couple of games since and it was obvious his last outing it was still bothering him.

Pressly threw off the mound before yesterday’s game with Astros head trainer Jeremiah Randall and pitching coach Brent Strom looking on. Apparently, they didn’t like what they saw. According to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, Pressly has been relegated to the 10-day Injured List retroactive to July 27th and Bryan Abreu will be his replacement on the roster.

The 30-year-old has been one of the stalwarts out of the Astros bullpen this season. Pressly has appeared in 45 games and sports an ERA of 2.03 in his 44.1 innings of work. He is having the best season of his career and was rewarded for his efforts by being selected to participate in his first All-Star Game.

Pressly is tied for first in the American League in Holds with 23 and is in the top ten in many categories including ERA, BB/9 (1.62), WAR for pitchers (1.6), and ERA+ (221). He and Roberto Osuna have been a formidable 1-2 punch to close out games for the Astros.

Bryan Abreu will come up from Corpus Christi, Houston’s AA affiliate. The 22-year-old has never pitched above the AA level in his career but is the Astros 8th ranked prospect overall and 4th among prospective pitchers.

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He has pitched in 15 games for Corpus and started in 12 of those appearances. He is carrying a 5.17 ERA at the AA level and 4.86 for the year. He has an 11.8 SO/9IP and is rather stingy allowing home runs, only giving up 0.6 HRs per nine innings.