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00:00There's a lot of things we talk about the offense. There's questions with that. You have questions elsewhere.
00:04There's one thing that it feels like yesterday was very evident that you don't have questions with this Astros team,
00:09and his name is Hunter Brown.
00:12He's the guy, right? I mean, there's no more question about that.
00:16Four starts.
00:17He's the ace?
00:17No, he is. No, he is.
00:19Four starts. 1.5 ERA.
00:221.25 ERA.
00:24Is it 1.25 at this point?
00:251.25, according to what I saw, 0.83 whip, and a 17-inning scoreless streak.
00:32That's how you do it.
00:34And here's the thing.
00:35I'm not necessarily criticizing Fraunberg.
00:38Fraunberg can still do those things.
00:41But the most consistent pitcher, the best start,
00:44and I'm going to give you a little historical context here in a little bit
00:47with Hunter Brown's start.
00:50But, like, Fraunberg can still do it.
00:53Fraunberg can still get it done and still show ace stuff.
00:55But Hunter Brown is the ace.
00:57He's the guy you want out there.
00:58So if the playoffs started right now, you're going with Hunter Brown first.
01:02Hunter Brown.
01:03Why would you not?
01:04Well, yeah.
01:06Yeah.
01:06I can still do incredible things,
01:08but I think the consistency that Hunter Brown is starting to show,
01:10which is wild to consider for a 26-year-old pitcher, right,
01:15in his age 26 season, a dude doing that.
01:18And really the thing that has been impressive to me is just the coolness,
01:21the calmness that he has displayed on the mound,
01:23even when, like, maybe he doesn't get a call that's good
01:26or maybe, you know, you have a solo shot or what have you.
01:29He's able to lock it right back in and continue getting after folks.
01:33I mean, he got in a little bit of trouble early in this one.
01:35Got some runners on the base pads and still managed to get out of it.
01:39Striking dudes out, in fact.
01:40Well, really, he only had four strikeouts, I believe,
01:43but that power sinker was getting bad contact
01:45and was getting people out.
01:48Shout out to Alex Bregman because that's the pitch that Bregman told him last year.
01:51He needs to throw more often,
01:53and now it's one of the most dangerous pitches in the game.
01:56Yeah, absolutely.
01:57And he's utilizing it more against lefties as well.
01:59Like, he's continuing to grow.
02:01So, I think, ultimately, the way that I would put this is
02:03the level that we're seeing him at right now
02:07feels like it's more, it's closer to what the floor is
02:10than what the ceiling is.
02:12Yes.
02:12And that's the thing that I think is even more impressive for me
02:15is that, hey, man, he's pitching really well,
02:17and that probably sounds wild to say with a dude who has a 1-5.
02:20I just double-checked.
02:211-5.
02:211-5.
02:22ERA.
02:23Even then, like, sub-two.
02:24You're cooking with grease, right?
02:25Like, you're cooking with gas, I guess,
02:27the more traditional way of saying that phrase.
02:29But, ultimately, like, that kind of sounds wild to say,
02:32but I think the way that he's going about it,
02:34the level-headedness, like, he's not,
02:36he does not have that concern,
02:37at least I don't feel like it,
02:39that you have that concern of what's going to happen
02:41if this bad thing happens to him.
02:44He's going to become the must-watch portion
02:49on this Astros team that, if I'm going to be completely honest,
02:53it feels like it has fewer must-watch things
02:55than it has had in recent history.
02:57But that's the difference between he and Fromber.
02:59You know, over the years, you know,
03:00when we get frustrated with Fromber,
03:03it's because things can get in his head.
03:05You know, he lets things affect him emotionally or mentally.
03:10Hunter Brown does not.
03:11And that's why Hunter Brown is the guy that you trot out there,
03:14you know, in those types of situations.
03:16Now, let me give you some context here
03:19to just how good a start this is for Hunter Brown.
03:21We just went over his stats and the scoreless innings
03:24and all that stuff.
03:251.5 ERA, 0.83 whip.
03:29Let's compare it to some of the greatest four-game starts
03:31that we've seen in recent years.
03:35With some of the greats here.
03:37Garrett Colt in 2019, incredible year.
03:40Through his first four starts, 3.2 ERA and a 0.92 whip.
03:46Not as good as what Hunter Brown is doing.
03:48Justin Verlander won the Cy Young in 2019.
03:53First four starts, 3.5 ERA, 1.174 whip.
03:58Not as good as what Hunter Brown has done so far.
04:00Fromber in 2022, when he had his career high in wins,
04:053.15 ERA, 1.4 whip.
04:08Not as good as what Hunter Brown has done through four starts.
04:11And let's go back to 2015, their first playoff run.
04:14Dallas Keuchel, Cy Young.
04:16Cy Young, through his first four starts, 0.62 ERA.
04:21You're not going to touch that.
04:22But a 0.82 whip, which is not as good as Hunter.
04:27First four starts, is as good or better in most cases
04:31than the best seasons as Astros that Justin Verlander,
04:36Garrett Cole, Fromber, and Dallas Keuchel have had.
04:41You got to, I mean, it's...
04:42Think about that.
04:43We're a tenth of the way through the season, right?
04:46There's a lot of baseball to go.
04:48It's early.
04:49Marathon, not a sprint, all that.
04:52Cy Young feels like this is not entirely out of the realm.
04:55Obviously, very, very early, as you mentioned.
04:57But, I mean, just look at those numbers.
04:59Two of those guys, one Cy Young's,
05:01and I think Garrett Cole finished like second or third
05:03to Justin Verlander in 2019.
05:08And their starts were not as good as what we've seen from Hunter Brown.
05:11He's your ace.
05:13And let's be very clear about this.
05:16It's not a criticism, per se, of Fromber,
05:19because if you have two guys that can dial up a game like that,
05:22and Fromber can, in a winnable division,
05:25you're way ahead of the game.
05:26Sure.
05:27And I think, okay, so where my brain has gone
05:30is kind of a weird place, especially after what you said,
05:32because absolutely, if you have good Fromber
05:34and you have Hunter Brown going,
05:37that one-two punch is huge.
05:39When you get into a postseason series,
05:41if you can go one-two with guys that you feel confident,
05:44either we can write the W in pencil,
05:48or we can feel very confident that at least we have
05:51a really solid chance of winning the game,
05:54that's a great place to be.
05:55Like, you already are starting with a level of advantage.
05:57However, considering the situation where we know
06:00that there has not been extension talks with Fromber,
06:02if you can get some, you know, reinforcements coming back,
06:07remembering that Lance McCullers is going to have his,
06:10was third, is it third or fourth rehab start?
06:12Fourth rehab start.
06:13Fourth, I think, yeah.
06:14Coming up soon.
06:15Obviously, you have Christian Javier,
06:17hopefully expected to come back maybe mid-season,
06:19you know, some of those types of guys.
06:21Could you possibly see the possibility of trading Fromber
06:24at the deadline?
06:24It depends on where they are.
06:26It absolutely depends on where they are.
06:27You ride it out.
06:28I mean, and traditionally the Astros have.
06:31You know, they've played it out without,
06:32we talked about, you know, Kyle Tucker trades last,
06:35you know, trade deadline.
06:37And that didn't happen.
06:38So traditionally they ride it out.
06:39It depends on where you are.
06:41But you get these two guys that can,
06:42in a very winnable division, as we talked about,
06:45it affects, you know, how you can use your bullpen.
06:48You know, there's a strain on your bullpen.
06:51How you can use some of these back-end rotation guys
06:53as you go down.
06:55So, yeah, keep it up.
06:56Keep it up, Hunter Brown,
06:57because it's going to make things a lot better for the Astros.
07:00Ultimately, yeah, absolutely.
07:01And I'm very much in a place where Hunter Brown is on the docket.
07:04Yeah, I'm absolutely tuning in to see him pitch.
07:08He has definitely reached that level for me.
07:10He has definitely reached that level for me.