Astros: Top 5 closer candidates to take over for Roberto Osuna

3. Chris Devenski

Yes, I’m aware that Devo is hurt as well, but he’s expected to be back before Roberto Osuna, so maybe he can find himself walking back into the closer role.

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The hard thing about Chris Devenski is he’s kind of a crapshoot. You just never know what he’s going to do. When he’s on, he’s unhittable. But when he struggles, you’d have more luck getting a horse to throw a strike.

Devo has the mentality to be a closer. He’s an intense dude and he flings fire. He strikes out far more than he walks (usually). But these past few years we’ve seen that opposing average creep up from .233 to .250 to the .400 it was at this year before he went down with an injury.

Still, it’s not all that long ago that he was keeping hitters under the Mendoza line, when his WHIP was consistently below 1.00.

Devenski can be a closer. It’s just a matter of keeping him in the right headspace to make that a consistent thing and not a roll of the dice.

Next up, No. 2.