Houston Astros: How Brad Peacock’s expertise could be used in the ALCS

Houston Astros reliever Brad Peacock was added onto the ALCS roster and his expertise could be used against the Yankees. What can he do? Let’s look.

What an amazing moment for us Houston Astros‘ fans.  This team came through when they were needed the most to stay right in contention for trying to do their utmost in winning the ALCS over the New York Yankees.

This will be a heavyweight fight of sorts and will certainly be one where a bunch of blood that will be seen among the blows each team will execute but who will give the final, technical knockout which will send them to the World Series?

Each fanbase in this series wants their respective team to get there and if you think about in the literal sense, either team only is three wins away from eclipsing that echelon of greatness once all things are said and done.

But until that happens, the storyline that takes us to the epilogue to what will likely be one of the greatest ALCS series played to date, we just have to hope that it’s our respective team that makes it to the final round of the postseason.

The ALCS roster has long been set and the two notable additions where Bryan Abreu — who had mixed results in his 0.2-inning appearance in Game 1 and Brad Peacock, who has yet to appear in this series.

The subtractions were Myles Straw — who has immense talent but it’s certainly duplicated many times over with his counterparts that made roster — and Wade Miley, who clearly has shown that his arm is likely dead for this season and there’s little help that he could provide physically to help this team get to — as well as try to win — the World Series.

I didn’t think adding Peacock to the ALDS roster would be a great idea early-in as he had just returned from injury and the Houston Astros were still evaluating his readiness.  Obviously, he checks out well enough to be a part of this roster and the bullpen will benefit from his presence.

Peacock’s calling card has always been his sinker, which has the illusion of fastball that he can get up into the low 90s and his slider that sits in the low 80s.

Those pitches will bode well for him when he gets the game ball this offseason and I think it’s going to be this afternoon in the latter stages of the game.

It will be largely situational with him but I think he will be able to do just fine even if it’s a high-pressure situation that he walks into.  The bullpen has enough depth but I think Peacock would be able to stay the course of his appearance while pitching in relief.

But the numbers don’t lie — batters have hit .227 off Peacock this season — .179 for right-handed batters but a gaudy .279 against lefties — through his 91.2 innings of work so to say he can’t be effective is just simply ignoring his past body of work.

It’s tough to compare this Yankees’ lineup to the one he faced in the 2017 postseason but in his

More from House of Houston

• Are you the 2021 FanSided Sports Fan of the Year?
• Houston Texans: 4 reasons Romeo Crennel is right coach right now
• Astros-Twins Wild Card Series: 5 things to know as MLB postseason begins
• Houston Texans: The Most Underrated Sports Drought Ever
• Houston Texans: J.J. Watt’s early case for NFL Hall of Fame

one appearance against the Bronx Bombers’ back June 21, batters hit .227 — right at his average for all opponents — while posting a 3.00 ERA, 11 strikeouts, two earned runs, a 0.83 WHIP and a incredible 16.5 K/9 in 6.0 innings of work, his best start this season.

It was a 4-1 losing effort where the offense was quite meager — Jose Altuve went 3-for-4 and Jake Marisnick batting in the only run — but it goes to show what Peacock has in the tank as a reliever, being able to make a tremendous amount of impact in a shorter amount of time.

So all in all, the decision to bring Peacock onto the ALCS is a sound one and I think he, just like Carlos Correa has, will make his mark in terms of doing what he can to help this team be successful.

Just keep an eye when AJ Hinch makes the call to pen for Peacock’s services…

Good luck Brad — go Houston Astros!