Peter Lambert was great again for the Astros, but his total transformation isn’t what it seems

There haven't been a lot of unsung heroes for the Houston Astros this season, but Peter Lambert has certainly been one. After outdueling Shohei Ohtani with seven sterling shutout innings on May 5, he followed up with another seven-inning gem against the AL West rival Seattle Mariners. In total, he's made five starts so far with a 2.76 ERA, which has been a true godsend for Houston's injured and scuffling rotation.

Ohtani entered the Cinco de Mayo matchup with a 0.60 ERA. The margin for error was slim, but the Astros pulled out a 2-1 victory. Lambert left his teammates in awe. Christian Walker called him "electric." In Lambert's opinion, he was just doing his job.

"That’s always a goal of the starting pitcher is to give length, especially on a day like today where the bullpen’s been pretty beat up lately,” Lambert said. “So yeah, that was part of the game plan, for sure -- get ahead and attack the zone and try to get some quicks to go deep into the game.”

So, after back-to-back seven-inning gems, can Lambert truly keep it up and prove to be a rotation anchor for a team that desperately needs it? Past history says no. The former Colorado Rockies starter came to Houston on a minor league deal with a 6.28 career ERA in the Mile High City. Getting out of the thin atmosphere certainly helps, but there's a red flag mixed in along with the positives.

If Peter Lambert is going to stick in the Astros' rotation, he's going to need to mitigate his fastball woes

The results on Lambert's fastball have been excellent. He's allowed a .171 batting average and .257 slugging percentage on his four-seamer. That's been good for a .261 wOBA. Not much to complain about so far.

But Lambert throws a relatively average velocity heater, coming in at 94.4 miles per hour. With a 23rd percentile extension, that mediocre velocity doesn't play up. Velocity isn't the end-all, be-all, but it is important, especially for a pitcher like Lambert whose four-seamer doesn't have any other standout characteristics.

The expected stats on his fastball paint a picture of a hard fall back down to earth. The fastball's expected batting average is .287. The expected slugging percentage is .533. The offering is yielding a 50% hard-hit rate, which leads to a .399 xwOBA.

The good news is that Lambert has a varied arsenal to rely upon. In addition to the fastball, he also has a sinker, cutter, changeup, slider, and slurve. Some of these pitches have been very effective and give him a fallback in case the fastball starts getting hit hard, as the underlying metrics suggest.

Lambert came out of nowhere during spring training, and although he didn't make the cut coming out of camp, he quickly found his way to the majors. If he can make the necessary adjustments, he and Spencer Arrighetti could serve as rotation-building blocks.

It'll take some time, but Hunter Brown is on the comeback trail. He'll be back soon, and if Lambert can figure out how to prevent his fastball from becoming a problem, the Astros might find themselves with a halfway decent rotation sooner rather than later. Hopefully, by that point, it's not too late. Lambert getting a handle on the fastball is one of the primary keys to making that a reality.

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