Five Stunning Statistics From The Astros First Month

#2 Surprisingly good stat: Hunter Brown records three-separate seven inning starts

Hunter Brown is the Astros next big thing. He dominated in the minor leagues and he dominated in his small-sample-sized September callup. After his childhood idol, Justin Verlander, left in free agency, Brown was left with some Texas-sized expectations on his shoulder.

While his counting stats are better than Dusty Baker and Dana Brown could have asked for, it's been his length that is most surprising. Three times in April, the rookie starter completed seven innings in a start. His most recent was against the Tampa Bay Rays, the most potent lineup in the game. Brown blanked them for seven innings. Rookies just don't do that.

His 0.8 WAR is the highest among pitchers on the team, and across baseball, only Framber Valdez has matched Brown with that many starts of seven innings pitched.

His ERA is great, he demonstrates great poise, and he misses bats but Brown growing into a workhorse before our eyes has been a great surprise this early in his career.