Brown working to be more durable in ’24
JUPITER, Fla. — Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier are the headliners of the Astros’ starting rotation, but a fresh Hunter Brown could push that Big Three.
To do that, he would have to resemble the Brown from the first half of last season. In his first full season in the big leagues, Brown posted a 3.62 ERA in his initial 15 starts before that number inflated as the innings mounted. By the time the year was finished, Brown had a 5.09 ERA and was moved to the bullpen for the postseason.
He also had thrown 1622⁄3 innings, well exceeding his previous high of 130 in 2022, when he made three scoreless appearances out of the bullpen in the playoffs.
Astros manager Joe Espada hesitated to say his 25-year-old pitcher was tired late in 2023, instead treating it as part of the natural learning curve for a young player, especially one thrown into the playoffs every October.
“That’s part of the development; I don’t really call it ‘worn out,’ ” Espada said. “We’ve been asking these young kids to throw a lot of innings at a very early age in their career. We’re playing for World Series titles every single year, so they’re learning on the biggest stage in baseball.”
After not allowing an earned run in 32⁄3 innings of Tuesday’s 9-1 win over the Marlins, Brown said “it’s tough to put the head on the nail” when it came to diagnosing his problems down the stretch of 2023, but he went to work in the offseason to try to make sure his body would hold up throughout what he hopes is another long postseason run in 2024.
“Definitely some discussions with the Astros strength and conditioning staff and my own trainer back home trying to help me be able to manage a larger workload,” Brown said. “Hopefully, I can hit the ground running this year and have more success in the tail end of the season.”
Besides working in the gym, Brown also tinkered with his arsenal by adding a new pitch, which he calls a slower slider. He threw it with some success against the Marlins, who got five hits against him but also struck out four times with no walks. The sloweddown slider looked especially devastating when he got an awkward-looking swinging strike on it against designated hitter Christian Bethancourt.
“At times, it’s working really well. At other times, probably not,” Brown said of his new pitch. “But it’s a new pitch I’m trying to get better at, and I’m using the opportunity this spring to try to do that. I like the progression, but it’s not perfect and probably won’t be. I’ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other with it and try to put myself in a good spot.”
After his outing, which was his best of the spring, Brown spoke of hoping to “put myself into a spot to make the rotation,” but that’s basically a foregone conclusion, especially while he’s having a spring that includes seven strikeouts in 72⁄3 innings and two earned runs allowed.
“Hunter Brown is an important piece to the puzzle,” Espada said. “I expect him to take a step forward and to continue his development. We’re going to count on him to provide some important innings throughout the season.”