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Impending bullpen departures offer failed Astros' prospect clear opportunity in 2025

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Atlanta Braves v Houston Astros / Logan Riely/GettyImages

The Houston Astros are no strangers to having to rebuild their bullpen each year. Just last offseason, the Astros lost Hector Neris (temporarily), Phil Maton, and Ryne Stanek, who all played a big role in 2023. Unfortunately, the Astros are extraordinarily unlikely to pull a Josh Hader out of their hat this offseason to cover their free agent losses again.

In addition to Neris hitting the market yet again, the Astros are set to lose Kendall Graveman and trade deadline acquisition Caleb Ferguson from their bullpen.

The Astros will likely retain their big bullpen arms unless they try to move some money off their payroll, but someone is going to have to step up and throw some relief innings for Houston in 2025.

That is where the oft-injured and sometimes hyped Forrest Whitley could come into play.

Forrest Whitley might get one last chance to make a difference with the Astros

Before anyone gets too excited, there is little chance that Whitley will ever approach the hype and ceiling he once had. Starting is all but completely off the table for him going forward, and several setbacks and injuries have made it where being a strong bullpen arm is the best the Astros can hope for out of Whitley going forward.

In 2024, that is what some expected Whitley to do. There was some preseason hype around Whitley thanks to some promising workout videos where he was flashing his prodigious raw ability, and he certainly had some moments down in the minors this past season. However, more elbow troubles for Whitley short-circuited his attempts to carve out a big league role and left his future with the Astros very, very murky.

Aside from a small three-appearance sample, Whitley again played most of 2024 in the minors, where he posted a strong 2.12 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 34 innings when he actually was on the mound. With the Astros losing multiple bullpen arms that they don't really want to spend actual dollars to replace, Whitley won't get a better opportunity for a roster spot than heading into 2025.

As to whether or not Whitley will do anything with this potential opportunity is a fair question. Whitley's talent has afforded him multiple chances to catch on with the Astros, and he has either fumbled those opportunities and/or his body hasn't allowed him to make the most of them. 2025 may be 27-year-old Whitley's actual last chance with Houston before they toss him into a deal for a player that can actually help them.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.