Astros insider just spotlighted the team’s hidden playoff weapon

It feels weird to think of Cristian Javier as an underrated pitcher, but that may be the reality we’re dealing with at this point. In 2022, Javier burst onto the scene on the Astros’ World Series run with a strong regular season combined with a dominant postseason where he started a combined no-hitter in the World Series. 

Sadly, we haven’t seen much of him since, as he only managed to throw 34 2/3 innings last season before undergoing Tommy John surgery in June. 

Javier made his return from that surgery in August, and has thrown 20 1/3 okay innings since making his return. So while it’s clear that he isn’t fully himself yet, it still looks like there’s a chance that he’s going to make an impression once October rolls around. 

Astros insider Chandler Rome just name Cristian Javier as Houston's playof X-factor

In a new story for The Athletic (subscription required), the site’s MLB staff took a turn guessing which player will be a postseason X-factor for each contending team, where Astros beat writer Chandler Rome picked Javier for the Astros. 

“Three years ago, Cristian Javier started the second no-hitter in World Series history, finishing a fabulous season that he parlayed into a $64 million contract extension. Javier’s performance dipped in 2023 and Tommy John surgery sidelined him for most of 2024. He has a 1.328 WHIP and 4.43 ERA across his first five starts back. Getting anything close to Javier’s 2022 form will make Houston’s rotation far more formidable behind Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez,” Rome wrote. 

As Rome mentioned, the Astros are going to need all the pitching reinforcements they can get once October rolls around. While Valdez and Brown have been good all season, all of the conversation around Valdez has been around the cross-up that was (or wasn’t), which is the kind of thing that could end up detailing any momentum going into the postseason. 

At the end of August, Javier tossed six scoreless innings at home against the Angels, which was a tangible example of how good Javier can be when his stuff is on. He kept batters off balance with his fastball and sweeper, and needed 85 pitches through six innings. He may have followed it up with a subpar outing against the Yankees, but it was a reminder of who he is as a pitcher.  

At this point in the season, you can’t talk about the Astros’ pitching staff without talking about injuries. Josh Hader won’t return until the postseason (at the earliest) due to a shoulder injury, while Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort and Spencer Arrighetti are likely out for the rest of the year. Reinforcements are slim at this point, so the Astros are going to need all they can get from pitchers like Javier and Luis Garcia. 

They’re both still working their way back from serious injuries, but they’re performed in big games for the Astros before. The Astros are going to need some that pedigree from them this year if they want to make noise in October.

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