Houston Astros: Hector Rondon has likely cost himself a postseason spot

With the Houston Astros ready to compete in the ALCS with Boston Red Sox, reliever Hector Rondon will likely be left off the roster. What’s going on?

The Houston Astros were able to handle the Cleveland Indians quite easily in the ALDS round of the MLB postseason. I honestly thought that the Tribe was going to make the Houston Astros sweat a little but it turned out not to be the case.

The Houston Astros will now face the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS which is what I expected. The Red Sox have had an incredible year and it makes sense that the two best teams in the AL are meeting up with each other, wrestling for the opportunity to go to the World Series.

The roster for the Houston Astros is as deep as you could imagine and there certainly is a lot of talent that the team had through the season that will not get that opportunity to contribute to this franchise’s push for a back-to-back title.

One of the individuals that would be within that realm is reliever Hector Rondon. The right-handed hurler signed with the Houston Astros this past off season for a two-year, $8.5 million deal. The pact was to be promising for the team but his consistent struggles in pressure situations at the mound cost him being left off the ALDS roster.

And you know what? His latest actions has likely cost him a spot through the postseason as well. Rondon did not take the news of being left off the ALDS roster like a champ and wasn’t anywhere to be found during the player introductions for Game 1 of the ALDS at Minute Maid Park.

Rondon has since patched things up with A.J. Hinch as well as the rest of the franchise but you wonder if those actions have cost him a spot through the postseason.

The old adage that we’ve all used at some point in our lives is to “forgive but to never forget.”

But Rondon didn’t warrant a roster spot at the moment — he had an absolutely AWFUL September, sporting a 9.72 ERA, allowing nine earned runs and a horrible 2.52 WHIP through 8.1 innings pitched.

In contrast, he had 1.46 ERA, allowed just two earned runs with a more-respectable 1.13 WHIP through 12.1 IP in August.

But in the world of professional sports, it’s more about what have you done for me lately and Rondon hadn’t done much as of late.

There will be a ton of high-pressure situations with the Red Sox and Rondon’s track record isn’t a

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good one. Batters hit an average of .314 against Rondon when there were two outs on the board with runners in scoring position in 2018. Even worse, if the Astros were trailing by at least one run and Rondon was called up to pitch, batters hit an average of .287 but the average tumbled to .255 when the team had a lead in the game.

It’s safe to say that Rondon has tremendous worth to be used as a reliever when the team is ahead but the call to put him in a sticky situation is gutsy. Based on this historical data alone as well as through his career, it’s tough to make that call and that’s why I think he’ll still be left off the ALCS roster.

His career numbers against the Red Sox are abysmal — batters have a slash line of .417/.462/.417 with an .878 OPS against through 13 plate appearances.

His career ERA is 3.86 against the Red Sox with a gaudy 2.57 WHIP through 2.1 innings pitched.

Rondon has always been good about striking people out but when you’re serving up home runs as if there’s a $7.99 special at Golden Corral, then what’s the point of having him in the game unless it’s a situation with no tension?

There may be hope if Hinch has a little charity in his heart but it’s all about having the best team assembled to compete and unfortunately that doesn’t include Rondon. We’ll have to see about that.

Next. Tony Kemp should remain at DH for the rest of the postseason. dark

Rondon, 30, posted a 3.20 ERA while tossing 67 strikeouts, allowing 21 earned runs and a 1.32 WHIP through 59.0 innings pitched in 2018.

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