Houston Astros Rumors: Three relievers to target before Spring Training
By T.A. Mock
Bud Norris, RHP
The Houston Astros selected Bud Norris in the sixth round of the 2006 draft. He rose fairly quickly through the farm system and made his major league debut in July of 2009. He struggled some to start his career but looked like he was finally on the verge of breaking out in 2011.
The Astros then parlayed Norris into some prospects during the 2013 season in a trade with Baltimore. He continued to somewhat struggle as an Oriole before they began to experiment with him as a reliever in 2015. He continued the back and forth between the rotation and bullpen for a few years before going to a bullpen role full time with the Angels in 2017.
Since then, he has done some of his best pitching out of the bullpen even earning a lot of closing reps with the Angels in 2017 and with the Cardinals in 2018. He accumulated 47 saves over the past two seasons and a career-best ERA in 2018 in addition to two of his best three WHIPs.
More. 3 guys with the most to gain in Spring Training. light
The Houston Astros could do a lot worse than adding Norris to their bullpen. The organization is likely still fairly familiar with him, especially due to his time with the Angels in 2017. A guy with a great fastball and closing experience would be valuable to any bullpen and the team could use a righty specialist with Joe Smith slated to be out for the majority of the season.
Norris also ranked in the 72nd percentile and above in fastball spin rate, K%, exit velocity, hard hit %, xwOBA, xBA, and xSLG in 2018. That’s pretty dadgum good. Adding Norris could help this bullpen remain elite in 2019.