5 players that played for the Astros this year that you probably forgot about

Jul 6, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros pinch hitter Bligh Madris (26) bats during the
Jul 6, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros pinch hitter Bligh Madris (26) bats during the | Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
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Shawn Dubin

Over on the pitching side, the Astros have surprisingly had a lot of guys play a significant amount in 2023. However, Shawn Dubin was not one of those guys as he made just three appearances when the Astros were trying to figure out how to cover innings from mid June to the beginning of July.

Overally, Dubin's numbers don't look very good thanks to the Mets torching him during his first long relief appearance. Notably though, he did get a start against the Rangers at the beginning of July and limited them to one run over four innings of work. Overall, Dubin hasn't had the best of seasons and probably doesn't factor into things in the long-term, but it was nice to see him get a shot.

Matt Gage

Slightly up the usage ladder here is Matt Gage who filled in for Ryne Stanek while he dealt with a family emergency and also had a short three game stint in May. For a fill in bullpen guy, Gage has actually been pretty good in the big leagues.

While his minor league 4.89 ERA and opposing hitters hitting .289 off of him certainly doesn't look inspiring, Gage posted a 2.70 ERA in his limited time in the big leagues and struck out better than a batter an inning. A cursory look at his minor league track record seems to show that that probably won't stick, but it was quite helpful to get some quality appearances out of Gage when the Astros were scrambling a bit.

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