Hunter Brown bolstering Cy Young candidacy, learning ‘how to separate himself from the rest'

New York Times

10 hours ago

HOUSTON — Forty-five major-league starters have thrown at least 750 four-seam fastballs this season. None has allowed a lower batting average or slugging percentage against the pitch than Hunter Brown, the budding ace and bedrock of a beaten-up Houston Astros pitching staff.
Baseball Savant assigns every pitch a run value to measure effectiveness. Brown's four-seam fastball has the second-highest mark in the sport, higher than Paul Skenes' prolific four-seamer, teammate Framber Valdez's sinker or Jacob deGrom's slider. It is, by most public metrics, one of the best pitches in baseball.
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Wednesday evening, Brown abandoned it altogether. He bolstered his American League Cy Young candidacy as a result. Brown reprised his role as the Astros' stopper during their 4-1 win against the Boston Red Sox, shielding his short-handed bullpen to salvage a series win.
In doing so, though, Brown exhibited an evolution that will resonate beyond one ballgame in mid-August. Valdez is all but guaranteed to test free agency this winter, where he will command the type of contract this franchise does not give.
In his presumed absence, Brown will be the Astros' unquestioned ace, the pitcher to whom an entire team turns for stability every fifth day. Those who thrive in the role are remarkable adapters, either on days without their best stuff or when an opponent takes away what makes them great. Brown faced both circumstances Wednesday.
'That's how you separate yourself from the rest,' manager Joe Espada said. 'You have to be able to pick that up, go in the video room and (see), 'What are they doing against this pitch?' … It's the difference in the maturity of Hunter Brown.'
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Seventeen of Brown's first 32 pitches were four-seam fastballs. Too many of them missed the strike zone to Brown's glove side, enraging an emotional pitcher who perceived something amiss. Brown walked two batters and surrendered two hits during a 22-pitch second inning.
Nine of the balls Brown threw were four-seam fastballs. After misfiring on three consecutive ones to Wilyer Abreu, Brown stormed off the mound and turned his back before catcher Yainer Diaz could throw him a new baseball.
'His fastball wasn't necessarily working, but we were able to use the rest of his repertoire of pitches to get through the game,' Diaz said through an interpreter.
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Brown did not generate a swing-and-miss until his 32nd pitch, when Connor Wong waved through one of the few wicked four-seamers he threw. Wong struck out, stranded two Red Sox in scoring position and sent Brown into the clubhouse searching for answers.
'You look back when he was probably the best pitcher in the league the first two months of the year — he pitched,' Astros pitching coach Josh Miller said. 'He used his changeup. Used his curveball. He can (pitch) backwards, go forwards. He can still step on the gas and come at you with the hard stuff.'
Brown threw 15 four-seam fastballs to the final 18 Boston hitters he faced. Only one touched third base — and Brown balked him from first to second. Throwing more curveballs and changeups against a left-handed-heavy lineup threw off Boston's approach to hunt fastballs. Sixteen of Brown's first 23 starts this season featured at least 37 four-seam fastballs; twelve of them saw Brown throw the pitch at least 40 percent of the time.
Brown faced this same Red Sox lineup Aug. 1 and threw 45 four-seamers. The 22 curveballs he spun Wednesday were his third most in a start this season. Boston saw just nine at Fenway Park earlier this month.
'That's just kind of the nature of the game, and you have to be prepared for it. Have to have plan A, B and C to each guy,' Brown said. 'I love that I can lean on a changeup on a given day or lean into my slider/cutter, even with my two-seam, to some guys that maybe I don't want to.
'In the big leagues, you have no choice, really. If you try to do the same thing over and over and it's not working, you're going to find yourself out of the game. Sometimes you just have to flip the script and make an adjustment.'
Brown is nowhere near a finished product, a fact his fabulous stats might make some forget. He only entered baseball's elite echelon last May, when he introduced a two-seam fastball to establish an inside presence. That, in turn, made his four-seam fastball more effective.
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'He just kind of browbeat guys with hard stuff,' Miller said. 'This year, he's learned how to pitch a little bit more, and it's gotten better each start.'
Wednesday offered more proof. Brown had nothing near his best stuff but still reached the seventh inning, a byproduct of a more diverse arsenal. He lowered his ERA to 2.45 after 24 starts. Among qualified American League starters, only reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal has a lower one.
Presuming the teams stay in rotation, Skubal and Brown are scheduled to oppose each other at Comerica Park next week, offering Brown another chance to separate himself from the rest.
'He's becoming a very big star,' Diaz said. 'We hope he continues that way, and it says a lot of him that he has the repertoire of pitches and the versatility of pitches to be able to use them when something isn't working.'
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