The Houston Astros are turning to one of the architects of their most successful era for help with a pitching staff that has become one of the team’s biggest problems.
Former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom will rejoin the organization as a pitching consultant for the remainder of the season, manager Joe Espada told reporters Thursday. Strom is expected to join the team Friday in New York, where Houston opens a three-game series against the Mets at Citi Field.
This isn’t a ceremonial reunion. Strom will be in the dugout during games and involved in meetings, throwing programs, and video analysis while working alongside pitching coach Josh Miller and assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz.
And the Astros have given him plenty to work on.
Houston’s Pitching Problems Are Piling Up
The Astros entered Thursday with a 4.68 team ERA, sixth-highest in Major League Baseball. Their rotation’s 5.17 ERA ranked third-highest, and Houston had already used 17 starting pitchers, tying a franchise record.
The inability of those starters to provide innings has created another problem. Entering Thursday’s series finale against the Yankees, no Astros starter had completed six innings in 13 consecutive games.
That workload is beginning to show in the bullpen. After posting the third-best bullpen ERA in baseball from May through July, Houston relievers entered Thursday ranked 20th with a 4.14 ERA in August.
The staff also owns MLB’s highest walk rate at 10.8 percent and has produced the sixth-fewest quality starts.
With 29 games remaining and the Astros trying to protect a narrow lead in the AL West, there isn’t much time for gradual improvement.
Enter Strom.
Brent Strom Knows This Organization
Strom, 77, served as Houston’s pitching coach from 2014 through 2021, a period that included three World Series appearances and the 2017 championship. Astros pitchers won two AL Cy Young Awards during his tenure, with Dallas Keuchel winning in 2015 and Justin Verlander in 2019.
From 2015 through 2021, Houston ranked second in the majors in both ERA and strikeout percentage.
Strom also has history with some of the people he’ll be working with now. Cristian Javier and Bryan Abreu made their major-league debuts during his previous tenure, while Miller worked under Strom from 2019 through 2021 as a bullpen coach and pitching coach.
Espada, who was the Astros’ bench coach for Strom’s final four seasons in Houston, emphasized Strom’s ability to work with pitchers at different stages of their careers.
“He’s got this presence about him, connecting with the young pitcher, older pitcher,” Espada said. “Also, very simple in how he teaches things.”
That simplicity may be particularly important right now.
Astros Aren’t Bringing Strom Back to Reminisce
One part of Espada’s explanation Thursday stood out.
“Sometimes we can spend a lot of time, look at things that are not particularly important right now during this stretch,” Espada said. “It’s about competing, it’s about me against him.”
That’s an interesting observation from the manager of a team whose pitching staff has spent much of the season struggling with walks, short starts, and inconsistency.
Strom has long been known for embracing data and unconventional approaches, but Espada’s description suggests his immediate job isn’t to reinvent Houston’s pitching operation. It’s to help simplify things and get results from the pitchers the Astros have.
The timing makes the urgency difficult to miss.
Houston parted ways with general manager Dana Brown on Monday. The bullpen is carrying an increasingly heavy load after 13 consecutive games without a starter completing six innings.
Meanwhile, Mike Burrows is nearing a return from the injured list, rookie Ethan Pecko is trying to establish himself in the rotation, and Tatsuya Imai has barely pitched since being removed from it.
Strom isn’t going to fix all of that simply by walking into the dugout Friday.
But the Astros clearly believe another set of experienced eyes could help.
The Astros Need Answers Now
Strom has spent more than a decade of his career in the Astros organization across multiple stints, including seven seasons in Houston’s minor-league system and a year as the major-league pitching coach in 1996. Since leaving Houston after the 2021 season, he has worked with the Diamondbacks and Pirates.
Now he’s returning to an organization in a very different position from the one he left.
The Astros aren’t bringing Strom back to help build a championship pitching staff over the next several years. They’re asking him to help stabilize one over the next several weeks.
There are 29 games left.
Houston needs its starters to pitch deeper. It needs its relievers to survive the workload. It needs fewer walks, more quality starts, and considerably more consistency.
And with September almost here, the Astros have turned to a familiar face to see whether Brent Strom can help them find it.
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