José Urquidy said he’ll be shut down from throwing for 10 days. He won’t go on the road trip, will stay in Houston and do rehab at the ballpark in the mornings. His MRI showed inflammation to the muscle near his armpit, no tearing. – Danielle Lerner on twitter
Let me expound a but on my point because you are right - he has had some bad luck with relievers letting inherited runners score:
15 hits
5 HR
4 2B
1 3B
That is 10 extra base hits out of 15 hits total. Add to that 5 hit by pitch and 10 walks in 21 IP. Hard contact and free baserunners makes me think he is not the next guy up right now.
But in AAA, extra base hits especially in such a small sample size mean very very little. Its similar to saying that about a pitcher in Colorado.
Either way, there are only so many choices if another starter is needed.
10 pitchers have started games in Sugar Land this year and only Whitley and Bielak have averaged 4+ innings.
Dubin, France, and Whitley are on the 40 man so it will need to be one of them unless someone is jettisoned off.
France: of the 3 best strikeout rate, worst BB and BAbip and 61 pitches and 17 batters are his longest outings
Whitley has much better Whip than Dubin and better BAbip and BB rate than either. averages more pitches and batters faced than the other 2.
Dubin actually throws the most strikes but also has a higher walk rate, and lower K per 9 than the other 2. He also has not faced more than 18 batters in an outing or over 69 pitches.
I wouldn’t be suprised if the spate of recent injuries accelerates the Astros’ thinking about calling up Whitley (or forces their hand a bit). He’s certainly pitching better and there are noticeable improvements in his command and demeanor.
I think the more likely scenario in the short term is using Gage or Blanco as a fifth starter (or even as an opener for Dusty’s favorite pastime, the bullpen game). Long term, if Garcia and/or Urquidy are out for the rest of the season, and goddamn I hope that isn’t the case, I’m sure the Astros would look at external options - i.e. trade - rather than going with their rather meager options in AAA.