The Astros provided an update on injured ace Hunter Brown on Tuesday, noting that the righty has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 shoulder strain. The club said he’ll be shut down from throwing for a few weeks.
Manager Joe Espada provided a little more specificity in his pregame media session with the Houston beat (link via Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle). The skipper said Brown would be reevaluated in two weeks. Espada and GM Dana Brown stressed that there’s nothing structurally amiss and that the issue is muscular.
That’s a relief, but it’s still trending towards more than a monthlong absence. Even if Brown is able to resume throwing two weeks from now, he’ll need to recover from a few bullpen and live batting practice sessions. A multi-week shutdown is going to require one or two minor league rehab starts as well.
The Astros are sticking with their plan to move to a six-man rotation after tomorrow’s off day. They’ll play on 13 straight days beginning this weekend. The six-man staff will keep Tatsuya Imai on a weekly schedule and allow them to keep an eye on workloads for their back-end arms.
Imai joins Mike Burrows, Cristian Javier and Lance McCullers Jr. in the top four of Espada’s rotation. Cody Bolton made a spot start on Monday against the Rockies, stepping into Brown’s schedule when the latter was placed on the injured list over the weekend. Bolton could get continued run out of the rotation. Spencer Arrighetti is working out of the Triple-A rotation. Ryan Weiss, AJ Blubaugh, and Kai-Wei Teng are all pitching in relief but have starting backgrounds.
Espada provided a few more encouraging updates on rehabbing pitchers this evening (relayed by Chandler Rome of The Athletic). The most notable is that closer Josh Hader, out all season with biceps tendinitis, is expected to face hitters for the first time next week. Depth starter Nate Pearson will throw a two-inning simulated game this weekend.
Houston’s bullpen has been shaky in Hader’s absence. Fill-in closer Bryan Abreu has allowed at least one run in each of his first four appearances. Abreu has only successfully locked down one of his three save opportunities this year. That came with a three-run lead and still required him to rebound from a Roman Anthony home run. Abreu took the loss in his most recent outing, giving up a walk-off three-run homer to Brent Rooker in the tenth inning on Sunday.
Bryan King and Steven Okert give the Astros a pair of quality left-handers. Abreu has a track record as a high-end setup man. Even if he gets on track, he’s a better fit earlier in games as a leverage arm given the Astros’ lack of established righty relievers. Blubaugh has been pushed up the bullpen hierarchy early in his big league career as a result.
