When the Astros moved their Triple-A affiliate to the Houston suburb of Sugar Land prior to last season, it provided their players the ease of shuffling between the Minor Leagues and Major Leagues, as well as giving their front office the luxury of seeing the next wave of prospects without having to travel very far. Another benefit appeared this week when several members of the Space Cowboys took advantage of Monday's off-day and joined manager Mickey Storey at the Major League debut of Astros top prospect Hunter Brown. Storey and several players, including Korey Lee, Justin Dirden, Scott Manea, Joe Record, Chad Donato and Shawn Dubin cheered Brown from the stands while he threw six scoreless innings against the Rangers. "Their support is awesome to have," Brown said. "They came out on an off-day for the Space Cowboys, and my family came all the way from Michigan. That was just awesome. That makes me feel real good, just to have them be there and know they're cheering for me and are there for me." Brown, the No. 71 ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, finished last season in Triple-A and spent all this season dominating hitters in the Pacific Coast League before the Astros called up him when rosters expanded Sept. 1. |
"Hunter's a guy that, obviously you can tell by the amount of guys that showed up on their off-day to watch him debut, it's a testament to what kind of player and what kind of teammate he was," Storey said. "We're excited for him. One of my favorite guys I ever had, not just because he was a good pitcher but because he was a great kid. For me to get a chance to come here and watch his debut, I couldn't miss it." Lee, who played in 12 games in the big leagues earlier this year, caught Brown frequently in Triple-A and came through the Minor League system with him. Brown was taken in the fifth round of the 2019 MLB Draft, the same Draft in which the Astros took Lee with the No. 32 overall pick. "Every day he's been out in Sugar Land, he's been preparing for this moment," Lee said. "Since he's been drafted, he's been preparing. Just let him do his thing today and good things are going to happen. He deserves every bit of this." |
Storey said Brown spent a good amount of time in Sugar Land in the past two seasons fine-tuning his command, which has been better. The stuff has always been there, so when he started posting eye-popping numbers this season it was only a matter of time before Brown got the call. "I get to tell a lot of guys they're going to the big leagues, and this one a special just because this kid is so humble," Storey said. "He's so talented but so humble. He's a guy that woke up every day and read he should have been in the big leagues and on every blog and every newspaper and it never got to him. He just kept chugging away. Every start he got better at Triple-A, and for him to get an opportunity to pitch at home it's exciting." |
The day after he got the news he was going to the big leagues, Brown drove to Sugar Land to pack up his locker. Storey helped him take his gear to this truck and felt like a proud father. "I told him I felt like I was sending my kids off to college right now," he said. "Likely I'm not going to see him come back that way. Hunter's special. To have that many teammates and staff here watching it, it says a lot." |
Much like they did when Framber Valdez was struggling to consistently throw strikes when he reached the big leagues in 2018 and 2019, the Astros never seemed to lose confidence in reliever Bryan Abreu, who also had trouble being consistently in the strike zone early in his career. Former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom was always a huge believer in Abreu, saying he had a chance to be an impact starter in the big leagues with his 97 mph fastball and hard slider. Abreu has been making an impact with the Astros this year, but it's been out of the bullpen. His outing Monday against the Rangers marked his 17th consecutive scoreless appearance since July 16, during which he struck out 27 batters in 18 2/3 innings with a .115 opponents' batting average. As a result, Abreu has worked up the ladder in manager Dusty Baker's bullpen pecking order and has taken the ball increasingly in high-leverage situations. |
"Before, he wasn't in the strike zone," Baker said. "Now his tempo is good, he's cut down on his [delivery] time so guys can't run on him as much. Before he was really slow. He's tightened himself up and is very confident. We always knew he had the stuff. There's a lot of guys who have the stuff but never really get it together. He had it together and climbed up the ladder in leverage situations, against right and left [batters]. That's what you hope players do, that they'll get it together at some point in time and keep it together." |
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TRIVIA When the Astros beat the Rangers on Monday, they evened their franchise's all-time record at 4,812-4,812. The last time they were at .500 as a franchise prior to Monday was in 2006, when they were a franchise-high four games over .500. Other than 2022 and 2006, what was the only season in which Houston's all-time record was .500 or better at some point? A.) 1986 B.) 2019 C.) 1980 D.) 1962 |
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• Shortstop Tim Borden II, a 16th-round pick in this year's MLB Draft, was named South Atlantic Player of the Week at Class A Asheville. He was 9-for-24 with three homers, five runs and nine RBIs for the Tourists last week. • Speaking of Korey Lee, he entered play Tuesday for Sugar Land with seven home runs in his last 10 games and leads all Triple-A players with 11 home runs since Aug. 1. • Also at Triple-A, Corey Julks hit his 25th home run of the season while stealing his 19th base of the year in Friday's win. Julks entered Tuesday needing one steal to become the first player in Sugar Land history with a 20/20 season. |
"I got a text from Bill Murray talking about that he was going to put mud all over his body so he can stay cool." -- Baker, on Sunday when talking about managing a hot game at Wrigley Field years ago. |
THIS WEEK IN ASTROS HISTORY Sept. 9, 2019 |
One day after beating the Mariners, 21-1, at Minute Maid Park, the Astros pounded the A's, 15-0, tying the franchise record by hitting seven home runs in the process. The Astros set a club record for most runs scored in a two-game span (36). Six of those homers came in the first two innings -- a feat never before achieved in Major League history -- including two by rookie Yordan Alvarez, who broke the franchise single-season rookie record in the first with his 23rd homer and then added the 24th an inning later. The second blast Alvarez hit, which Statcast estimated at 416 feet, landed in the upper deck in right field. Alvarez is the first Astros player and second player ever to hit a fair ball into the upper deck. In a strange twist, the A's beat the Astros, 21-7, the following night. |
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The Colt .45's, who would change their name to the Astros in 1965, won their first three games by sweeping the Cubs in Houston in 1962 and were 6-6 after 12 games before sliding en route to a 96-loss season. They wouldn't see .500 again for another 44 years. |
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