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Top Astros rotation candidate reveals who his surprising idol was growing up

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Houston Astros relief pitcher Hayden Wesneski (39) / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Things have a funny way of working out in the game of baseball. While most of the attention from the Kyle Tucker trade has been centered around the Houston Astros' acquisition of Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith, the deal also brought Hayden Wesneski back to his old stomping grounds.

Wesneski's homecoming is a great story, but there's a lot to like about about the former Sam Houston State standout. A top prospect during his time with the Chicago Cubs, Wesneski has the stuff and pedigree to be a solid arm for the Astros even though mechanical issues and injuries have given him fits in recent years.

For that reason, many have pegged Wesneski as a favorite to make the Astros' starting rotation out of camp this spring. During an interview with MLB.com, Wesneski discussed playing for his hometown team, but also revealed which Astros legend was his idol growing up.

Hayden Wesneski was a big fan of Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt growing up

For most players in Wesneski's age bracket, you would think someone like Jeff Bagwell or Craig Biggio would roll off the tongue as their favorite Astros' player growing up. Both Bagwell and Biggio are Hall of Famers who were among the best players at their respective positions during what was an entertaining era of Astros baseball.

Instead, Wesneski made sure give the nod to legendary Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt as his favorite while acknowledging the obvious duo of Bagwell and Biggio. "Roy Oswalt was my guy. I liked the way he threw. He threw everything. I used to play him on video games — the whole nine yards. He was my favorite Astro growing up.”

This is definitely a cultured pick and we respect the hell out of it. Oswalt wasn't able to assemble a Hall of Fame-worthy career in the eyes of voters, but was still worth 50 career rWAR and finished in the top six of Cy Young voting six times during his 13-year career. If a pitcher is going to idolize someone, they can do a whole lot worse than Oswalt.

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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.