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Strom a calming influence as club deals with drama, holes in staff
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In a spring where so much is new, so much is scrutinized and so much seems uncertain, Brent Strom remains resolute, the sage face of the Astros’ analytically advanced pitching staff.
For the first five days of spring training, the bespectacled 70-year-old pitching coach called his pitchers into a semicircle near the bullpen. Strom delivered the day’s message and whatever wisdom he felt necessary. Manager Dusty Baker often lingered just outside, giving Strom the space required to work his wonders.
“He loves his pitchers, he loves what he’s doing and they respond to him,” Baker said last week. “They listen to him. You can tell if someone’s listening to you or not. I kind of eavesdrop on some of the little meetings they’re having. They listen to him and they know he knows how to help them be successful.”
Now in his seventh season as Houston’s pitching coach, Strom’s direction and dedication have never been more vital. For five of his six previous seasons, he bounced ideas off the affable A.J. Hinch, a man Strom continues to hold in the highest regard.
“I will not lie — I miss A.J.,” Strom said.
“As a pitching coach, you have a Cole and a Verlander, it kind of makes your job a lot easier because you know what they’re going to give you two out of every five days. A little bit different this year.”
Astros pitching coach Brent Strom
“I miss being with him on a daily basis. He always gave me respect and a chance to voice my opinion. Whether he listened to it or not was really immaterial more times than not. I thought he did a tremendous job for us for years and really helped get this organization going, but I’m excited to work with Dusty.”
Baker’s been around the team for less than two weeks. His knowledge of the personnel is limited to television impressions from last season or brief glimpses when he managed the Nationals in 2016 and 2017.
Strom’s daily analysis of this young pitching staff will impact most of Baker’s decision-making. The two men share a home state and mid-70s major league careers. Baker finished his big league career 4-for-9 off Strom, who was out of the maors before Baker won the first of his two Silver Sluggers.
“Obviously he and I are from a different era,” Strom said of Baker. “The only thing Dusty did, he didn’t hit me as hard as Enos Cabell did, which Enos never lets me forget. It’s just a different personality, different way of doing things, but I sense a great deal of respect in that clubhouse for Dusty Baker.”
The two will now team to guide the Astros through this trying season. Some pitching choices are simple — tabbing Justin Verlander or Zack Greinke to start games and calling upon Roberto Osuna to finish them. The healthy returns of Joe Smith, Ryan Pressly and Lance McCullers Jr. offer other comforts.
Still, combating the loss of Gerrit Cole will be the staff ’s foremost worry. Expecting any one person to replicate Cole’s production is not rooted in logic. The man struck out a franchise-record 326 batters and finished with the American League’s lowest ERA.
“It’s interesting,” Strom said. “As a pitching coach, you have a Cole and a Verlander, it kind of makes your job a lot easier because you know what they’re going to give you two out of every five days. A little bit different this year.
“I think Lance has got to step up, obviously Greinke and Verlander are going to be the staple of this, but I’m excited about ( Jose) Urquidy and I’m excited to see how that number five spot comes out.”
At full health, Verlander, Greinke and McCullers form a terrific trio atop the rotation. Though Greinke is not yet in camp, Strom said he is in daily contact with the righthander, who is working out in Orlando at Rollins College. Greinke will report to camp Saturday and throw a live batting practice session the next day.
“Dusty hit it right on the head, Greinke is just Greinke,” Strom said. “Just a different cat. He competes like nobody’s business.”
Worry about either Greinke or
Verlander is nonexistent. Finding who throws behind them is of more urgency. Urquidy’s fabulous showing in September and during the postseason almost cements him as the team’s fourth starter.
Three men are legitimate candidates for the fifth spot, Strom said Tuesday — Josh James, Austin Pruitt and Framber Valdez.
Brad Peacock, who’s yet to throw off the mound during spring training, is “out of the race,” Strom said. The staff views Peacock as more valuable out of the bullpen, where the veteran righthander has held every role.
James and Pruitt were long thought to be the two frontrunners for the fifth starter. The organization completely revamped James’ delivery this offseason in hopes of refining his command.
Strom said the organization used Cole’s delivery as a “model” for James to emulate — fitting considering the velocity both can generate. James said last September the new mechanics make him more linear to home plate, removing much of the erraticism that plagued him in 2019.
Pruitt carries no remarkable velocity, just precise command. His high-spin curveball and slider excited Strom, who approached his new general manager to discuss Pruitt, the former Tampa Bay Ray whom the Astros acquired this January.
“I’m really grateful that you guys have such a great pitching staff in Tampa that we get your leftovers,” Strom told James Click, who came to Houston from the Rays organization.
“Pruitt’s been nothing but fabulous. He commands the ball, he spins the ball. We’ve talked to him already about his usage. I think he’s going to be better than he ever was.”
In their initial spring training meeting with Pruitt on Sunday, the Astros focused on his tendencies when behind in the count. As most pitchers do, Pruitt was privy to piping fastballs when he fell behind hitters. The numbers Houston had for him were surprising.
“I’d never seen any of those before,” said Pruitt, who came from the analytically savvy Rays. “For the most part, they were telling me my stuff is good enough, and everything all kind of looks like a heater, to throw some more offspeeds behind in the count.”
Valdez’s inclusion among the fifth-starter candidates is somewhat curious. The organization has afforded him ample chances at the major league level. Valdez always answered with inconsistency. The Dominican lefthander has walked 5.7 per nine innings in parts of two major league seasons. His ERA last season was 5.86.
Command of Valdez’s fastball is erratic, at best, but his curveball is among the organization’s best. When he does not harness control of his fastball, his wicked curveball is almost useless. Valdez has alternated bad and brilliant starts. At his best, he’s garnered respect from the game’s finest — compliments Strom can’t shake.
“I never forget what (Mike) Trout said when he faced Valdez that it was some of the best stuff he’d seen in baseball,” Strom said. “That shows what Framber has, it’s just a matter of consistency.”
Resolving the fifth starter competition will make clear the order in a bullpen gutted by veteran departures. The exits of Hector Rondon,
Collin McHugh and Will Harris leave the Astros in search of reliable relievers that bridge to Pressly and Osuna.
A bevy of young arms are in contention. Strom is enamored by Bryan Abreu, the imposing Dominican righthander who had a brief major league debut last season and appeared on the team’s American League Championship Series roster. Abreu appeared out of the bullpen then but Strom seems dedicated to making the 22-year-old a starter.
“I think starters are the hardest thing to find and it’s really easy to just take people and put them in the bullpen,” Strom said. “(Starters) the most expensive entity that’s out there. I will expend all my energy I can to make this guy an eventual starter. That doesn’t mean he won’t break with us as a reliever.
“I think he’s going to be a 180-, 200-inning guy as he grows and gets going. I really like his stuff.”
Other prospects to get Strom’s attention include Enoli Paredes and Nivaldo Rodriguez, both of whom threw live batting practice sessions on Tuesday. Top prospect Forrest Whitley tossed one, too, with mixed results. His fastball command was wretched and some mechanics sped up.
“I’m not going to place a great deal of stock into how he did out there today,” Strom said. “Obviously a very talented young man who I haven’t had a great deal of time with. I’m probably going to step forward here in the next couple days and give him some of my thoughts.”