Hinch says Devenski earns chance to start for Feldman
SEATTLE — The way the Astros’ starting pitchers have performed in the season’s first three weeks, a change was bound to happen before the team had built itself too big a hole from which it could escape.
The first rotation shake-up was revealed Tuesday. Before the loss to the Mariners at Safeco Field, Astros manager A.J. Hinch notified Scott Feldman the righthander wouldn’t make his start Saturday in Oakland.
Chris Devenski, a revelation in long relief since his April 8 debut, will start against the Athletics in Feldman’s place. The Astros want to see what they have in the 25-yearold righthander, who has allowed only one run in 132⁄3 innings out of the bullpen and has experience as a starter in the minor leagues.
“He’s earned a longer look and potentially could be a good matchup with the lefthanded hitters in Oakland,” Hinch said. “He’s been a strike-thrower. He’s pitched with conviction. His performance has been exceptional.”
Feldman will be available to pitch out of the bullpen beginning Friday. Hinch did not rule out Feldman returning to the rotation, even as soon as next week’s homestand.
The manager’s decision for Saturday “just means he’s not pitching this weekend,” Hinch said of Feldman. “We want to take a look at Devenski against Oakland.”
Feldman, 33, and making $8 million this season in the final year of his three-year deal, posted a 4.58 ERA through his first four starts, only one of which he pitched into the sixth inning. He exhausted 103 pitches over 41⁄3 innings Sunday night against the Red Sox.
His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 13 to 11, his walks-plus-hits per inning pitched 1.881.
Rotation struggles
The Astros had to mix things up. Their 5.27 starting rotation ERA and 1.62 WHIP were worst in the American League coming into Tuesday night and a big reason for their poor start.
“It’s never a good conversation to have when you’re taking a start away from a guy who’s been as consistent as Feldman’s been throughout his career,” Hinch said. “As I told him, we haven’t seen the last of Scott Feldman starting and he may even start next week.
“For the purposes of planning for this weekend, I had to let him know when to throw his pen and how to be ready for Friday in case we need him.”
A hard thrower
Devenski will offer a different look to a rotation that’s average fastball velocity of 88.8 mph was slowest in the majors entering Tuesday’s games, according to FanGraphs.
Devenki’s heater averages 92.7 mph, though his velocity might have been a tick up in shorter spurts in the bullpen compared to as a starter.
Changing the complexion of the rotation stylistically could alone help, though, as Feldman and Doug Fister, who were pitching backto-back days, are sinkerball pitchers who stand 6-7 and 6-8, respectively.
The power arm dynamic Lance McCullers brings is what the Astros sorely miss, but he appears at least a couple of weeks away from returning.
Working his way back from the shoulder soreness he experienced in spring training, McCullers will pitch Tuesday in an extended spring training game in which the team plans for him to get “up and down” three times.
In Devenski, the Astros have a pitcher who can dial up his fastball and uses a circle change-up as his primary out pitch. His change-up has produced eight of his 12 strikeouts. He also mixes in a slider and a curveball.
A telling sign for Devenski on Saturday will be how he performs a third time through the lineup, once the opposition has seen his repertoire.
Twelve batters were the most he faced in any of his six relief outings.
Pitcher’s best test
“It is a test for him,” Hinch said. “Obviously his breaking ball is going to come into play when you see hitters more often.
“But he’s been so efficient with his pitches and has gotten such funny swings and misses, it begs for us to take a look at him to kick-start a game and see what it looks like from the first inning on.
“He pitches with intensity. He pitches with a ton of confidence, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in a different role for the time being.”