Houston Astros: Three guys who can replace Lance McCullers Jr. in the rotation

Corbin Martin, RHP

Corbin Martin was a second-round pick out of Texas A&M in last year’s draft. He is a native of Cypress, TX, a Houston suburb and was a standout pitcher at Cy-Ranch High School. Martin has fared better as a starter in the pros than he did in college.

He made ten appearances across Rookie and Low A ball. He had a 2.20 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP with 12 strikeouts per nine innings. That’s a pretty great start for this young kid. Especially considering that those two levels are known for hitters that absolutely dominate and crush pitching.

For his first full season as a pro, the Astros promoted him to High A where he had a 0.00 ERA and a 0.55 WHIP over 19+ plus innings. That excellence earned him a quick promotion to AA Corpus Christi where his dominance has continued. He’s pitched 75 innings for the Hooks this year and has a 2.40 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, he’s also doled out 66 strikeouts to just 18 walks.

This rapid, excellent ascension has him slotted in as the Houston Astros number five overall prospect in MLB.com’s most recent prospect rankings. He has a fastball that can get as high as 98 but mostly hovers between 94-96 MPH.

He has struggled with control at some points in his career but, he appears to be getting that under control. He has the potential to be a mid to high-level starter in the bigs if he can continue to get his control down. If not, he has backend of the bullpen potential.

Martin reminds me a lot of a young McCullers who also made the jump from AA to the bigs. Swap out McCullers’ curveball for Martin’s slider and you have pretty similar pitchers. Both have had some control issues but, McCullers settled in as a starter and the Astros may want to see if Martin can do the same.