Hunter Brown: A Rising Star for the Houston Astros |
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00:00 Joe, take it away on Hunter Brown and the Houston Astros.
00:04 There's two pitchers on this list from the Houston Astros.
00:06 The first one is Hunter Brown, and I think Brown is a player that I know I was very excited
00:10 about last year, and so are you.
00:11 And sometimes this happens where things don't go well.
00:14 The ERA was up to five and Hunter Brown struggled last year.
00:17 You look at the projections for this year, again, he's going at ADP of 174, projecting
00:21 at 163 Ks, a 394 ERA.
00:24 That's a pretty big jump.
00:25 I think there's room for even more, a whip of 128.
00:29 Hunter Brown is a unique case because at 25 years old and the path that he's been on,
00:34 this is a unique opportunity where his draft capital has fallen.
00:39 You might be able to buy low on him, and this might be the best version you're going to
00:42 get on him.
00:43 So let's kind of dial it back and sit around the fire, everybody, and listen to Uncle Joe
00:48 spout nonsense about Hunter Brown because if you look at 230 minor league innings for
00:53 him, he had a 3-4-0 ERA.
00:56 He had 298 strikeouts.
00:57 So if you're trying to do the math in your head, don't, I'll do it for you.
01:01 That's an 11.7 strikeout per nine.
01:03 That my friends is elite.
01:05 The Ashers are a really good team, a good defensive team, a good offensive team.
01:09 He's going to get run support.
01:10 They've got a good bullpen.
01:11 They brought in Hayter now too, so the bullpen's even lengthened.
01:13 And that's important for a guy like Hunter Brown, who's still going to be more of a six-inning
01:16 pitcher.
01:17 So for him to achieve more than 11 wins or anything into that 12 to 13 or 14 range, he's
01:23 got to be really good for those six innings.
01:25 And that bridge to the bullpen is going to be very good.
01:27 And I think it's better than it was last year.
01:29 That's case number one.
01:31 Case number two is also a pitcher that's starting to, I think, figure things out.
01:35 And if you look at a guy in his path to the major leagues, he did struggle with the walk
01:40 rate earlier in his career.
01:42 Eventually, he did right that ship in AAA not that long ago, where he shaved that walk
01:48 rate down from 5.3 to three walks per nine.
01:51 And that carried over into the big leagues, as did the big strikeout totals.
01:55 So Hunter Brown's a unique position here.
01:57 He threw 152 innings last year, so innings are not going to be an issue for him.
02:01 It's just a matter of, can he start to show you the pitcher he was in the minor leagues
02:06 that was dominating?
02:07 And I think the answer is yes.
02:09 I think there's a reason everybody's excited about Hunter Brown last year.
02:11 And sometimes we're a year early to the dance.
02:14 And I think this year, it's the perfect set of circumstances with a pitcher going close
02:18 to 175 overall.
02:20 There's not a lot of guys you can draft there that have the upside to be somebody at the
02:24 front of your fantasy rotation.
02:26 Hunter Brown, I think, is one of those names, especially pitching for the Houston Astros
02:30 with that bullpen.
02:31 It's a lot of reasons to like Hunter Brown.
02:34 It doesn't cost you a lot to find out.
02:36 And I think it's all upside, Matt, when you're looking at Brown in 24.