Houston Astros: Dallas Keuchel to make his starting ST debut Monday
The Houston Astros are right in the thick of Spring Training and it will be good to see one of the long-time mainstays on the pitching staff on the bump to start tomorrow’s game. Dallas Keuchel, who hasn’t appeared yet, will get the ball for Monday, March 5. Let’s examine this further.
The Houston Astros pitching staff, for the most part, looks quite solid with the majority of the rotational guys getting their opportunity to start. We’ve seen Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole as well as Lance McCullers Jr. to take their spot on the mound. To make things whole, the Bearded Wonder will have this opportunity tomorrow.
Dallas Keuchel will be an interesting watch as he’s likely going to be performing at the highest of levels as he will go into the free agency after the 2018 season. It’s not to say that wasn’t his goal with each season that he played but there’s going to be some extra zip with his performance this year.
The lefty is looking to get a fat paycheck — whether it be from the Houston Astros or elsewhere — to shore up his financial status for the remainder of his career.
Brian McTaggart of MLB.com had the information on this news last week as far as what the Houston Astros intentions were:
Dallas Keuchel will start for the first time this spring on March 5. He's scheduled to make five starts.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 24, 2018
And five starts will be adequate enough to ensures that he stays in the groove for the upcoming season. I’m crossing my fingers that he stays healthy but I imagine that the team will sit him somewhere at the midpoint so that he remains as fresh as possible through the 162-game season.
Keuchel has been on an individualized throwing program as of late so it hasn’t been a situation where he’s just at the facility twiddling his thumbs, waiting on his next start.
Keuchel typically is extremely embossed in his readiness and Tag also provides some insight about that as well:
A.J. Hinch arrives at the facility about 5 a.m. every morning. He said Chris Devenski is usually first player in, along with Keuchel and McCullers.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 26, 2018
These are tweets that I like to see, demonstrating that he’s committed to strive for nothing but excellence. We’ll have to see how he performs but I think he’ll be just fine with things moving forward without a hitch.
The Astros will take on the Miami Marlins at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches with the first pitch scheduled for 12:05 p.m. CST. This game will be televised on AT&T SportsNet Southwest; and, as always available for the listen on SportsTalk 790AM. It’s also important to note that as of this season, games are now available to stream through AT&T SportsNet app or on attsportsnet.com if one already subscribes to the channel through a pay TV service.
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The Marlins will have Elieser Hernandez, one of two picks they made in the Rule 5 Draft, to get the start as the opposing pitcher for tomorrow. In two games, he has posted a 3.60 ERA, five strikeouts and a 1.20 WHIP through 5.0 innings pitched in Spring Training thus far.
Keuchel, 30, posted a 14-5 record, a 2.90 ERA, 125 strikeouts, a terrific 1.12 WHIP and 3.79 FIP through 145.2 innings pitched last season in 23 starts.
Go Astros.