#4: Jose Urquidy
José Urquidy is the Astros #4 this season, and they can’t ask for much more than what Urquidy has historically brought them as a back of the rotation arm. For his career, Urquidy is 24-13 with a 3.74 ERA. He finished last season 13-8 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.17 WHIP, both numbers slightly elevated from his career averages.
Once again, Urquidy showed out in a World Series, throwing three scoreless relief innings in the Game 3 loss, helping preserve Dusty Baker’s bullpen and catapult the Astros to three straight wins. Urquidy is now 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA for his career in the Fall Classic, quite a comforting statistic for as often as the Astros are playing for the Commissioner’s Trophy.
He’ll start the year as the fourth option, but if either of the two names to follow come out and exceed expectations, they could very well jump him in the rotation.