Astros may have continued improbable run of pitching successes with latest call-up

One of the prevailing (and understandable) narratives surrounding the Houston Astros coming into the season was their lack of pitching depth. Justin Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi had new teams, and while the Astros added Hayden Wesneski, they still seemed to be playing with fire. What fans didn't know, however, was that Houston was playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers.Recent call-up of Brandon Walter was the latest example.

If you didn't even know that Walter was in the Astros' organization, you're forgiven. Walter was an unassuming minor league signing during the offseason and was coming off an unremarkable run with the Boston Red Sox organization. Boston converted him to a reliever and after he suffering a rotator cuff injury, was cut loose.

The Astros saw something in Walter, and after his rather successful debut in Houston's rotation, it's feeling more and more like the Astros' starting pitching plan was much better than they were given credit for.

Is Brandon Walter the latest Astros' example of outthinking the rest of MLB?

Given their limited resources, and while risky, the Astros appear to have had understood what they wanted to do with their roster during the offseason. Losing two arms from the rotation was always going to be tough to cover, but Houston knew they had a good starting point with Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez, and Ronel Blanco. Spencer Arrighetti was impressive before his freak injury, and there was obviously hope that both Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia would be healthy.

While others outside the organization failed to acknowledge it, Houston always had more options. When pressed into service, top prospects like Ryan Gusto and Colton Gordon put themselves on the map with strong starts to their big league careers. Add in Walter, who the Astros picked up off the trash heap, and you have an organization that clearly knows what they want and how to get the most out of it.

It's great to see the Astros have more pitching depth than fans thought, because they're going to need it. Wesneski is already out for the season following Tommy John surgery, and now Blanco is dealing with arm troubles of his own. Arrighetti should be back from the IL soon, but Houston is also hoping that these initial success stories can continue to contribute the rest of the way.

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