Is Hunter Brown Actually The Astros Ace?

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00:00There's a lot of things we talk about the offense. There's questions with that. You have questions elsewhere.

00:04There's one thing that it feels like yesterday was very evident that you don't have questions with this Astros team,

00:09and his name is Hunter Brown.

00:12He's the guy, right? I mean, there's no more question about that.

00:16Four starts.

00:17He's the ace?

00:17No, he is. No, he is.

00:19Four starts. 1.5 ERA.

00:221.25 ERA.

00:24Is it 1.25 at this point?

00:251.25, according to what I saw, 0.83 whip, and a 17-inning scoreless streak.

00:32That's how you do it.

00:34And here's the thing.

00:35I'm not necessarily criticizing Fraunberg.

00:38Fraunberg can still do those things.

00:41But the most consistent pitcher, the best start,

00:44and I'm going to give you a little historical context here in a little bit

00:47with Hunter Brown's start.

00:50But, like, Fraunberg can still do it.

00:53Fraunberg can still get it done and still show ace stuff.

00:55But Hunter Brown is the ace.

00:57He's the guy you want out there.

00:58So if the playoffs started right now, you're going with Hunter Brown first.

01:02Hunter Brown.

01:03Why would you not?

01:04Well, yeah.

01:06Yeah.

01:06I can still do incredible things,

01:08but I think the consistency that Hunter Brown is starting to show,

01:10which is wild to consider for a 26-year-old pitcher, right,

01:15in his age 26 season, a dude doing that.

01:18And really the thing that has been impressive to me is just the coolness,

01:21the calmness that he has displayed on the mound,

01:23even when, like, maybe he doesn't get a call that's good

01:26or maybe, you know, you have a solo shot or what have you.

01:29He's able to lock it right back in and continue getting after folks.

01:33I mean, he got in a little bit of trouble early in this one.

01:35Got some runners on the base pads and still managed to get out of it.

01:39Striking dudes out, in fact.

01:40Well, really, he only had four strikeouts, I believe,

01:43but that power sinker was getting bad contact

01:45and was getting people out.

01:48Shout out to Alex Bregman because that's the pitch that Bregman told him last year.

01:51He needs to throw more often,

01:53and now it's one of the most dangerous pitches in the game.

01:56Yeah, absolutely.

01:57And he's utilizing it more against lefties as well.

01:59Like, he's continuing to grow.

02:01So, I think, ultimately, the way that I would put this is

02:03the level that we're seeing him at right now

02:07feels like it's more, it's closer to what the floor is

02:10than what the ceiling is.

02:12Yes.

02:12And that's the thing that I think is even more impressive for me

02:15is that, hey, man, he's pitching really well,

02:17and that probably sounds wild to say with a dude who has a 1-5.

02:20I just double-checked.

02:211-5.

02:22ERA.

02:23Even then, like, sub-two.

02:24You're cooking with grease, right?

02:25Like, you're cooking with gas, I guess,

02:27the more traditional way of saying that phrase.

02:29But, ultimately, like, that kind of sounds wild to say,

02:32but I think the way that he's going about it,

02:34the level-headedness, like, he's not,

02:36he does not have that concern,

02:37at least I don't feel like it,

02:39that you have that concern of what's going to happen

02:41if this bad thing happens to him.

02:44He's going to become the must-watch portion

02:49on this Astros team that, if I'm going to be completely honest,

02:53it feels like it has fewer must-watch things

02:55than it has had in recent history.

02:57But that's the difference between he and Fromber.

02:59You know, over the years, you know,

03:00when we get frustrated with Fromber,

03:03it's because things can get in his head.

03:05You know, he lets things affect him emotionally or mentally.

03:10Hunter Brown does not.

03:11And that's why Hunter Brown is the guy that you trot out there,

03:14you know, in those types of situations.

03:16Now, let me give you some context here

03:19to just how good a start this is for Hunter Brown.

03:21We just went over his stats and the scoreless innings

03:24and all that stuff.

03:251.5 ERA, 0.83 whip.

03:29Let's compare it to some of the greatest four-game starts

03:31that we've seen in recent years.

03:35With some of the greats here.

03:37Garrett Colt in 2019, incredible year.

03:40Through his first four starts, 3.2 ERA and a 0.92 whip.

03:46Not as good as what Hunter Brown is doing.

03:48Justin Verlander won the Cy Young in 2019.

03:53First four starts, 3.5 ERA, 1.174 whip.

03:58Not as good as what Hunter Brown has done so far.

04:00Fromber in 2022, when he had his career high in wins,

04:053.15 ERA, 1.4 whip.

04:08Not as good as what Hunter Brown has done through four starts.

04:11And let's go back to 2015, their first playoff run.

04:14Dallas Keuchel, Cy Young.

04:16Cy Young, through his first four starts, 0.62 ERA.

04:21You're not going to touch that.

04:22But a 0.82 whip, which is not as good as Hunter.

04:27First four starts, is as good or better in most cases

04:31than the best seasons as Astros that Justin Verlander,

04:36Garrett Cole, Fromber, and Dallas Keuchel have had.

04:41You got to, I mean, it's...

04:42Think about that.

04:43We're a tenth of the way through the season, right?

04:46There's a lot of baseball to go.

04:48It's early.

04:49Marathon, not a sprint, all that.

04:52Cy Young feels like this is not entirely out of the realm.

04:55Obviously, very, very early, as you mentioned.

04:57But, I mean, just look at those numbers.

04:59Two of those guys, one Cy Young's,

05:01and I think Garrett Cole finished like second or third

05:03to Justin Verlander in 2019.

05:08And their starts were not as good as what we've seen from Hunter Brown.

05:11He's your ace.

05:13And let's be very clear about this.

05:16It's not a criticism, per se, of Fromber,

05:19because if you have two guys that can dial up a game like that,

05:22and Fromber can, in a winnable division,

05:25you're way ahead of the game.

05:26Sure.

05:27And I think, okay, so where my brain has gone

05:30is kind of a weird place, especially after what you said,

05:32because absolutely, if you have good Fromber

05:34and you have Hunter Brown going,

05:37that one-two punch is huge.

05:39When you get into a postseason series,

05:41if you can go one-two with guys that you feel confident,

05:44either we can write the W in pencil,

05:48or we can feel very confident that at least we have

05:51a really solid chance of winning the game,

05:54that's a great place to be.

05:55Like, you already are starting with a level of advantage.

05:57However, considering the situation where we know

06:00that there has not been extension talks with Fromber,

06:02if you can get some, you know, reinforcements coming back,

06:07remembering that Lance McCullers is going to have his,

06:10was third, is it third or fourth rehab start?

06:12Fourth rehab start.

06:13Fourth, I think, yeah.

06:14Coming up soon.

06:15Obviously, you have Christian Javier,

06:17hopefully expected to come back maybe mid-season,

06:19you know, some of those types of guys.

06:21Could you possibly see the possibility of trading Fromber

06:24at the deadline?

06:24It depends on where they are.

06:26It absolutely depends on where they are.

06:27You ride it out.

06:28I mean, and traditionally the Astros have.

06:31You know, they've played it out without,

06:32we talked about, you know, Kyle Tucker trades last,

06:35you know, trade deadline.

06:37And that didn't happen.

06:38So traditionally they ride it out.

06:39It depends on where you are.

06:41But you get these two guys that can,

06:42in a very winnable division, as we talked about,

06:45it affects, you know, how you can use your bullpen.

06:48You know, there's a strain on your bullpen.

06:51How you can use some of these back-end rotation guys

06:53as you go down.

06:55So, yeah, keep it up.

06:56Keep it up, Hunter Brown,

06:57because it's going to make things a lot better for the Astros.

07:00Ultimately, yeah, absolutely.

07:01And I'm very much in a place where Hunter Brown is on the docket.

07:04Yeah, I'm absolutely tuning in to see him pitch.

07:08He has definitely reached that level for me.

07:10He has definitely reached that level for me.

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