00:00It feels like at least starting pitching-wise, the Astros got out of a little bit of a funk.
00:03Shout-out to Hayden Wesneski.
00:04Yeah.
00:05Going six.
00:05Let's go.
00:06H-Town, Sam Houston State.
00:08Let's go, Hayden Wesneski.
00:09Let's do it, dawg.
00:10I'd be forgetting that he went to Sam Houston.
00:13I know.
00:14Go eat them up, cats, baby.
00:15Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:16Go ahead and talk your talk.
00:17I ain't mad at you.
00:18But the Astros back again at .500 with a 5-1 victory in no small part because I think Hayden
00:24Wesneski, is it fair to say that he out-dueled Garrett Cole?
00:28Yeah, they put up the graphic.
00:30I don't have the graphic in front of me, but they did that by the end of the game.
00:33Sorry, he went five.
00:34I said he went six.
00:34He went five, but I think—
00:36It felt like he went six.
00:37Six strikeouts in this as well, but his pitch count got a little high.
00:40Yeah, but, I mean, if you're just comparing the pitchers, I think he did out-duel him.
00:44And, of course, obviously the Astros win the game, which is the most important part.
00:48But Hayden Wesneski, there were really only like small nitpicky stuff to really look at
00:54in his performance to—and obviously you want to see the starters go deeper in the games.
00:58This is the story of the team right now, is despite the fact that the bullpen has performed
01:03as admirably as it has, it is way too taxed at this point, and especially given the fact
01:10that, you know, that we're here at the end of the season, right?
01:13And so, obviously they want their starters to go deeper into games.
01:17You would like to see him to have gone into the six or finished the six.
01:20But for what you got out of him, I thought it was admirable to say the least.
01:25And so, does it feel like Brent Strom could be the funk buster for the Astros pitching?
01:30Because that was one of the big news items yesterday, in addition to the Astros getting a victory
01:34and, again, dispatching the Yankees with a one series, right?
01:38Former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom is rejoining the team as a pitching consultant
01:44is the official way that we're doing this, I imagine, so we don't have to fire nobody
01:47on no coaches' staffs.
01:49But he will be here for the remaining 29 games of the season.
01:52And it's worth noting that he spent eight seasons with the Astros from 2014 to 2021.
01:57He was the pitching coach then.
01:59And during that span, there was not an American League team that had a lower ERA than the
02:03Astros and only one team that had a lower whip, which is a walks and hits per inning pitch.
02:08So, he was clearly very good for this team that admittedly had really good arms.
02:12I'm not trying to make it seem like the dudes that he had in that time, where he was just
02:16making a little something out of nothing.
02:17No, it was dudes that could pitch.
02:18However, he was clearly good for them.
02:20And the question that immediately comes up is, obviously, this dude is good at what he does.
02:2477 years old, you know, he's been around the block.
02:27How much good can he do for the Astros?
02:29And in what ways can he do good for the Astros in the remaining 29 games?
02:33You know what I mean?
02:33Like, how can you foresee Brent Strong making an impact on this stretch run?
02:38Yeah, it's possible that he doesn't, honestly.
02:40It's possible that he doesn't.
02:41But if anybody could, it would be this guy.
02:44It would be Brent Strong.
02:46I think Joe Spotted did a good job of summing it up when he said he is the architect of
02:49what
02:50the Astros have done here, pitching-wise.
02:52And so, I think it's a big deal in terms of, like, what kind of acquisition at this point
03:00in the season, what type of coaching ad could you make that would make any kind of dent or
03:05make any kind of impact on the team?
03:07This is the one.
03:08Or this is about as good as it's possibly going to get.
03:10So, is there going to be an impact?
03:12We'll see.
03:13But when you think about Hunter Brown, for example, I mean, let's just go down the line,
03:17right?
03:17Think about Hunter Brown, for example, and the issues that he's had commanding this fastball
03:21and that not necessarily being the strength in his game that it has been in the past.
03:26He has been solid for them.
03:28And I think it shows just how talented that he is, the fact that he's been able to sort
03:32of fight through not having his best stuff.
03:34But he has not looked like the Cy Young candidate that he was last year.
03:39Could Brent Strong help him tap into whatever it is that he's missing, that he's lacking?
03:44I don't know how much of that is a mechanical issue tied to the shoulder strain from earlier
03:50in the season, if he's just overcompensating or somehow trying to compensate for pain or
03:54discomfort or an injury of some sort.
03:57Could Brent Strong, is there a solve for that?
04:00If anybody knows it, I feel like it would be Brent Strong.
04:03So, we could start there with Hunter Brown.
04:05You look at, go all the way down to the bottom at Tatsuya Imai, who they're trying to avoid
04:11at this point.
04:11Yes.
04:12Avoiding him.
04:12And not just trying, they're succeeding at avoiding him.
04:15He hasn't pitched at least in the last five outings, you know, if not longer.
04:19I'd have to go back and actually check.
04:20Yeah, but doing it, when I say trying, doing so deliberately, not that they forgot about
04:25him, but deliberately avoiding him.
04:27Only having him go out there when the game is out of reach and he's just got to eat innings
04:31or whatever the case may be.
04:32That's a guy who, when they signed Tatsuya Imai, I think there were some question marks, but
04:39people were excited because of his previous success, because of his pedigree and because
04:43of his stuff, because he is a talented guy.
04:46And so, for somebody to be that talented and to be that buried on your depth chart, there's
04:52a disconnect somewhere.
04:54Now, obviously, he's making the change from going to, from Japan to the States and all
04:59of the cultural things and actual baseball things that go into that.
05:03But when it comes to just coaching the position, right, coaching the mechanics, coaching the
05:08smaller things, could Brent Strom be somebody that Tatsuya Imai needed all along?
05:15And it's just a better late than never type of scenario.
05:18I'd love to see what Brent Strom could do with Tatsuya Imai if he could get his hands on
05:22him.
05:22That's the thing that I immediately thought of is, is it possible that this could just
05:26be special project?
05:27You moved on from no one else.
05:29The team can continue operating as normal.
05:32And we could have this just be Brent Strom and Tatsuya Imai doing a buddy cop comedy over
05:37on the side.
05:37Yeah.
05:38And just, can you get him right, even for next season?
05:41Oh, that would be such a funny buddy cop comedy.
05:43The bell curve of where the Astros are in the general landscape of things does not look
05:47fun for the next couple of years.
05:49It looks a little bit better if you have somebody who has Tatsuya Imai stuff commanding in a
05:53way that is demonstrative.
05:55And the way that he's going right now, I don't see him getting that.
05:58Brent Strom taking him under his wing, there's a possibility.
06:01And then, so I love that as a possibility.
06:04And then if he has time as well, a huge, huge thing would be getting, as you mentioned, getting
06:11Hunter Brown back to form.
06:14Because he is a dude who, as you mentioned, when he is going really well, he is a bona fide
06:19ace.
06:19Right now, he is maybe your best pitcher.
06:22Maybe.
06:23Right?
06:23Those are very, very different things.
06:25And so, specifically that fastball getting back.
06:27And this isn't, I'm not meaning to do this as, here comes Brent Strom with the magic wand
06:32to touch these guys and make them much better.
06:35I think that the way that coaching in baseball seems to go, from my perspective, is you get
06:42another, you get a set of eyes and maybe this guy can see from the outside something
06:46that the player isn't seeing or someone else isn't seeing and goes, okay, maybe this is
06:51where it is.
06:51And for Brent Strom, who's seen a lot of pitching and has seen a lot of people have to
06:55work through things and fix things, maybe his attuned eye can jump in with the other
07:01pitching coaches that are looking at Hayden West Nessie and go, you know what, back in
07:062014, I saw this pitcher have this problem and maybe this is the answer for you and boom,
07:11here we go.
07:12Like, is this just another set of eyes that has experience that might have something as
07:16bad that can help you out?
07:18I think that that's the benefit of the experience and I hope that that's what can come in and
07:21help Hunter Brown get back right.
07:22Somewhere in between there.
07:23So, I think Hunter Brown and Tatsuya Imai stand out the most.
07:26Hunter Brown because he's your best pitcher and has ace and Cy Young type of potential.
07:31And Tatsuya Imai because of what you invested in him and the return or lack thereof of that
07:36investment that you're getting now at this point.
07:38Somewhere in between there, I would even include Christian Javier, who if I'm being honest,
07:42I don't have the eye or the exact coaching points that I want Brent Strom to focus on with
07:48Christian Javier, but that's somebody that he's coached before in the past and seen success
07:53and had success with.
07:54I would love to see if there's something, because there's a relationship there already,
07:58right?
07:58So, I would love to see if there's even something there where he could get Christian Javier back
08:02closer to, even if we're never going to see the guy that he was in 2021 or anything like
08:09that, or, you know, pre-Tommy John, could he get him closer to that?
08:13If there's anybody that's a candidate to do it, it would be Brent Strom.
08:17Yeah.
08:18The only other thing that I would point out, because someone on the text line goes, add
08:23Mike Burrows into that.
08:24Yeah, that's a good one.
08:24The only thing is, is Mike Burrows with the Big League Club?
08:27No, he's actually over there giving up home runs with the AAA Club.
08:31And that's what I'm saying.
08:31So, that's the only thing, is there's literal physical distance on that one.
08:35This might be below Brent Strom's pay grade, and he ain't nothing but a consultant right
08:39now.
08:39I just wonder if, obviously I'm not moving Mike Burrows up to the Big League Club, is Brent
08:45Strom signing on?
08:46Is this really and truly just for the remainder of the season, or is this something where they're
08:49hoping to continue it on after?
08:50If that's the case, yeah, then, can you come over here?
08:53When you're done looking at the carburetor, I got this other car that needs the AC fixed.
08:58Can you come look at this as well?
08:59Like, that's the way that I'm looking at the Mike Burrows on top of it.
09:01Worst case scenario is Brent Strom gets in there and goes, what was Dana thinking?
09:06Look at all them guys and say, man, what is this?
09:08That is nothing small, right?
09:10I don't want to just laugh at that.
09:12The idea of someone coming in and who knows for certain that can look at this and go, yeah,
09:16this was a mistake, or actually it wasn't.
09:18You just need to do it like this.
09:19That's not insignificant.
09:21That is experience, and that is intel that is worthwhile.
09:24So all those things coming back with Brent Strom, how much does it show on the day-to-day
09:28remains to be seen, but I'm very, very excited to see this decision happening for the Astros.
09:33Shout out to all the decision makers in there, like Jim Crane, all y'all.
09:35Y'all get a thumbs up from me.
09:36I know I'm talking crazy about y'all a lot recently.
09:38This is good.
09:39I'm happy about that.
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