Brent Strom's return to Astros already paying dividends

The commentary game is usually a negative endeavor. Nothing sells quite like negativity and nothing gets clicks quite like controversy. However, occasionally you have to acknowledge the obvious and give credit where credit is due. There are lot of reports about how Brent Strom returned to the Astros and why it took so long for him to come back. He has been in semi-retirement for much of the season, but apparently retirement didn't agree with him.

As a statistical analyst, I simply detest small sample sizes. Strom was brought back on August 27th and since then the pitching staff has experienced a resurgence of sorts. Obviously, the staff won't be as good as Strom's salad days before the pandemic, but they have been noticeable better since he has come back.

The team has played twelve games since he returned. Obviously, no analyst worth their salt would reach any sweeping conclusions based on 12 games. However, we can look at the results and note what has happened so far. The team is 8-4 in those twelve games and that is on the back of a sometimes sputtering offense. The biggest beneficiary appears to be Hayden Wesneski as he has turned in three quality starts since Strom has returned.

When we look at the totals we see even more reason to be optimistic. The Astros have given up 36 runs in those 12 games. Math is not my strong suit, but my crack math skills indicate that this comes to three runs a game. Anyone that has been following the Astros this season knows that is a remarkable stretch. It hasn't been perfect. Starting outings are still shorter than usual, but they also have dealt with some injuries in the rotation and the bullpen that Strom did not have to deal with during his first go around in Houston.

I simply hate click bait, so I will offer one reasonable reason why this has probably happened. When Strom was here, his speciality was taking what a pitcher did well and maximize that as much as possible. Strom's underlings were doing that before this season, but they seemed to be stuck in a four seam, high spin loop that has been made obsolete by the new ABS system. Strom uses analytics, but instead of simply going with generalities he uses the pitcher's own analytics to find matchup advantages with hitters.

It obviously has not worked across the board. We could pinpoint individual pitchers that continue to struggle even with Strom in the fold. Some pitchers cannot necessarily be reclaimed and that is certainly true when we are looking at two weeks in the latter part of the season. However, the differences have been enough to be noticed. Who knows if the better pitching will be enough to get the job done. This offense is still sputtering and my comrades in arms have mentioned many of the reasons why. Still, if this team is able to finish the deal and win the West then they may have Brent Strom to thank.

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