Houston Astros Could Be Perfect Spot for Boston Red Sox Starter to Flourish

The Houston Astros have a penchant for turning struggling starting pitchers into aces and could have the perfect project open to them in free agency.

Maintaining the pitching staff has been an interesting task for the Astros for some time now. They have a long cast of starting pitchers currently on payroll, but injury issues have kept them from ever being a fully formed group.

With Justin Verlander and Jose Urquidy hitting free agency, Houston could be in the market for another veteran to further build their staff’s depth.

R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports connected them with one of the most intriguing pitchers on the market, listing them as a top landing spot for former Boston Red Sox hurler Nick Pivetta.

“Pivetta’s arsenal has reached an odd point in its evolution. His four-seam fastball is the only one of his five pitches that works toward his arm side; everything else cuts to the glove side. That weird dynamic hasn’t stopped him from developing into a solid mid-rotation starter. Dating back to 2021, he’s compiled a 102 ERA+ and a 3.15 strikeout-to-walk ratio. That’s fine work for someone whose name used to be synonymous with underperformance,” said Anderson.

The numbers never really seem to match what the veteran has actually done on the mound. His xERA has been notably lower than his actual ERA for much of his career, pointing to a little bit of bad luck going his way.

The 31-year-old strikes batters out at a high rate and has solid command. The issue is that he doesn’t generate many misses and gets hit hard.

It’s not that the Astros have some magic formula that will make Pivetta finally put it together, but they do have a proven track record of helping pitchers reach new heights.

Just this past season they traded for Yusei Kikuchi and turned him into a buzzsaw by making some changes to his approach.

Kikuchi had a 4.75 ERA over his first 22 starts of the season with the Toronto Blue Jays. Over his final 10 outings of the year, after being traded to Houston, he had a 2.70 ERA. He also bumped up his strikeout numbers and drastically dropped his hit rate.

He is a similar pitcher to Pivetta that always had better stuff than numbers, so maybe the Astros can recreate their success.

Bringing the veteran in on a small deal with the chance to build his value like Kikcuhi seems like a win-win.