Hunter Brown made his return June 16 against the Tigers at Daikin Park. An exciting and anticipated return, but another interesting piece to the puzzle was who he was up against. Brown made his return against Framber Valdez. The Astros' old ace vs. the Astros' new ace.
Brown, 27, was drafted by the Astros in the fifth round in 2019 out of Wayne State. He made his MLB debut in 2022 and has been one of the most exciting young pitchers in baseball ever since. He throws a fastball in the mid to upper 90s and a slider that has been one of the best pitches in baseball.
He finished third in AL Cy Young voting last season with a 2.43 ERA, 12-9 record, and 206 strikeouts in 185 innings, per MLB. He was named the AL Pitcher of the Month last June after posting a 1.19 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP in 30 1/3 innings, with the Astros winning all five of his starts that month.
When Valdez signed with the Tigers in the offseason, Brown assumed the role of ace and made his first Opening Day start on March 26, throwing 102 pitches in 4 2/3 scoreless innings against the Angels, the first Opening Day start of his career.
Brown posted a 0.84 ERA over his first two starts of the season, striking out 17 batters in 10 2/3 innings. On April 5 he landed on the IL with a Grade 2 right shoulder strain, the first IL stint of his career. The Astros lost their ace just as the season was getting started and have had some serious struggles ever since.
Brown made four rehab starts before returning, including a final five-inning outing for Triple-A Sugar Land where he allowed one earned run while striking out seven.
Brown had the longest scoreless-innings streak in the majors last year at 28 innings, the fifth-longest single-season streak by a starter in Astros history. Getting that kind of arm back is a massive boost for a rotation that has been held together by Arrighetti, Teng, and Lambert all season.
The Astros are moving to a six-man rotation to accommodate his return without removing anyone else from the staff.
This is the version of Brown the Astros need going forward, an established ace coming back at the perfect time as the Astros try to climb back into the AL West race.
