Latest news with #ForrestWhitley
Reuters
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Junior Caminero homers twice, as Rays blowout Astros
May 31 - Junior Caminero posted four extra-base hits, and the Tampa Bay Rays pounded the Houston Astros' bullpen for the second time in three games en route to a 16-3 road win on Saturday. After recording a career-high six RBIs in the opener of this four-game series on Thursday, Caminero went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two home runs for his first four-hit and multi-homer game. Caminero had five RBIs; he is 16-for-37 with 12 extra-base hits and 17 RBIs over his last nine games. He had plenty of help up and down the Rays' lineup on Saturday. The Rays bashed five home runs, including three against an Astros bullpen that surrendered 11 runs on Thursday. Caminero drilled a three-run homer off Astros reliever Forrest Whitley in the top of the eighth inning. He doubled and scored when Jake Mangum smacked his first home run in the seventh, a two-run shot off Astros reliever Kaleb Ort, who allowed four extra-base hits before issuing a walk to Curtis Mead that yielded a pitching change with one out in the frame. Josh Lowe greeted Astros reliever Steven Okert with a line-drive, two-run shot to right field, his third home run capping a six-run frame that extended the Rays' lead to 11-3. Ort allowed five runs on four hits and one walk while recording one out as the Rays capitalized one inning after recording four consecutive hits against Astros reliever Shawn Dubin, yet scored only one run. Mangum singled home Caminero in the sixth after Caminero opened that inning with a double. Caminero gave the Rays a 4-3 lead with his leadoff home run in the fourth, his 12th this season. Yandy Diaz, who smacked his eighth homer, a two-run shot off Astros starter Colton Gordon (0-1) in the third, went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Lowe went 3-for-4 and scored three runs, as did Rays leadoff hitter Jose Caballero, who finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Tampa Bay had 18 hits. Rays right-hander Zack Littell (5-5) was the beneficiary of the run support. He allowed a leadoff homer to Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena in the first, and Pena added a two-run shot off Littell in the third for his ninth homer and second career multi-homer game. But Littell stranded the bases loaded in the ninth inning for his first complete game, tossing 117 pitches. --Field Level Media
New York Times
13-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Former top prospect Forrest Whitley opens up on 'embarrassing' journey with Astros
HOUSTON — Last month, Forrest Whitley's left knee buckled before a game of catch at Kauffman Stadium. Swelling and scans ensued, sending Whitley into a spiral. His star-crossed career is a case study in setbacks, one of his own doing and a deluge of others beyond his control. Coping with them can be complicated. At first, Whitley didn't know how, the byproduct of being an 18-year-old wunderkind with a $3.148 million signing bonus and a blessed amateur baseball career. First-round picks seldom arrive with any experience navigating adversity and emotions, and when hardships arrive, feelings can vary. Advertisement 'The honest answer to that is it's embarrassing,' Whitley said this week. Now, after nine years of never-ending misfortune, Whitley is nearing a place of peace. Maturation and marriage have helped. Whitley's wife, Courtney, has been a constant companion since his professional career began. She 'knows the key words, key phrases, the key things to do to calm me down,' he said. 'And she has pretty much nailed everything since we've been together.' One of Courtney's most common refrains to her husband: 'Bear down, break through it, take it day by day, hour by hour.' 'Otherwise, give up the game,' Whitley said. 'That was just never an option for me. Still isn't an option. I feel like guys in my position that keep going feel like they have stuff to give back to the game, and I still very much feel that way.' Before the 2019 season, Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB Pipeline anointed Whitley the best starting pitching prospect in baseball. Now, he is fighting to retain a roster spot in one of the sport's best bullpens. He made his long-awaited major-league debut last season but has logged just 5 1/3 innings since. Whitley is out of minor-league options at a position where turnover is constant, creating a real scenario where he won't finish the season in the only organization he's ever known. 'It's impossible not to think about,' Whitley said. 'I kind of viewed this year as the last chance, so when I'm on the field, I really got to make it happen.' The knee that crumpled in Kansas City is sprained, sending Whitley to the injured list for the second time in the season's first 47 days. Whitley suffered a bone bruise in the same knee toward the end of spring training, costing him a spot on his first career Opening Day roster. Reinjuring it last month left him 'down bad,' Whitley said. Courtney tried to counsel him, but the shame that has haunted him for the past six seasons remains. Advertisement 'I told (manager Joe Espada) this, I told the pitching coaches this: I honestly feel embarrassed every time I have to go on the IL or something pops up,' Whitley said. 'I don't want it to be a reflection of my work ethic. I feel I do everything I can to stay on the field, and it just hasn't worked out lately. 'I feel like I have a certain level of responsibility to give back to the people that have supported me that I don't.' What irks Whitley most is any thought that this is a result of negligence or complacency. He has worked with countless physical therapists, checked 'under the hood' more times than he can count and has drawn a few vials of blood to figure out why he can't stay healthy. 'The game is going to be the game. You just have to deal with it. I'm a hard thrower. Got good spin. Got a good changeup. I put a lot of stress on my body,' Whitley said. Forrest Whitley's 2Ks in the 8th. — Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 22, 2025 'It makes sense that this stuff would happen,' he continued, 'but you look around the league, and there's a lot of guys doing the same thing that throw 160 innings every year. For me, I try to ask myself why, but that's the kind of comparison you can't make.' Pondering Whitley's past is a pastime of most Astros fans. He reached Double A before turning 20 and became the main attraction at his first major-league spring training. Former general manager Jeff Luhnow labeled him untouchable in trades that constructed Houston's golden era. That Whitley hasn't contributed to it is a fate few could've envisioned. Whitley has thrown 169 1/3 innings across the six seasons since becoming baseball's top pitching prospect. A 50-game drug suspension stalled his progress before Whitley's barrage of injuries began. Tommy John surgery sidelined him in 2020 and 2021 before a lat strain limited him to 30 innings in 2023. Prospects passed him within the organizational pecking order and within every outside ranking he once topped. Advertisement 'It was just such a quick rise to such a steady fall. For me, mentally, that was really tough. It hurt my ego a lot,' Whitley said. 'I was just so used to being the guy in the room. I come to spring in '21, '22, '23 — you're not the guy anymore. 'While I believe that I'm not the guy just because I don't have the prospect status or the numbers to back it up in general, I still have to maintain that belief that I am that guy without being an a–hole.' Belief is what buoys Whitley, even when his body might betray him. He 'likes to think' he will pitch into his 40s, even as a 27-year-old with such an extensive injury history. Whitley has exchanged some messages with Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Tyler Glasnow, one of the few pitchers in the sport who can commiserate with his situation. 'You come into the clubhouse every day with a certain level of apprehension, knowing that today could be the day something really flares up and something happens,' Whitley said. 'You try to hold that mindset and carry that with you. It almost makes you feel humble coming in day to day, knowing that every day really, really matters. 'It wasn't a perfect process to get to this mental state right now. It's still not perfect. It's far from it.' Flashes of Whitley's brilliance remain, even if they're relegated to minor-league rehab assignments or bullpen sessions out of public view. His sinker and four-seamer can touch 99 mph, complementing two breaking balls and a changeup that have already authored success in his brief big-league career. 'Every day I throw the baseball, it reminds me of why I keep doing this stuff,' Whitley said. 'I know when I go out there, I'm going to be competitive. I know exactly what to do. I have the stuff to get the best big leaguers out. I just have to go out there and do it and make sure I'm out there every time.' Advertisement That process begins again Tuesday, when Whitley will throw a rehab inning for Triple-A Sugar Land in hopes of an imminent return to the major-league roster. Where the game takes him after is a mystery, one Whitley has stopped trying to solve. 'The way I dumb it down for myself is there are millions of people — maybe billions of people — in far worse situations,' Whitley said. 'Look where I am. I'm in a major-league locker room. Yeah, it sucks that my knee is hurt. Yeah, it sucks that I've had a laundry list of s— go on the last few years. But I'm here.'
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Houston Astros Place Former No. 1 Prospect Forrest Whitley on the 15-Day IL
The Houston Astros activated right-handed reliever Kaleb Ort from the 15-day injured list, and placed a former top prospect back on the IL in a corresponding move on Sunday. Forrest Whitley, who began the season on the IL, is heading back on the shelf (retroactive to April 24) with a left knee sprain. Advertisement 'When he was playing catch yesterday, felt the knee again,' Astros manager Joe Espada said Sunday morning. 'So we decided to shut him down.' After coming off the IL on April 19, Whitley made one appearance in relief this season, pitching two scoreless frames in a 7-0 win against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 21. Since making his major league debut last year, the 27-year-old has pitched a total of five and one-thirds innings without surrendering a run. Houston Astros relief pitcher Forrest Whitley (55) reacts after an outErik Williams-Imagn Images The Astros No. 17 overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft and No. 1 prospect from 2018-'21, Whitley has dealt with multiple injuries including Tommy John surgery and a 50-game PED suspension during his 10-years with the organization. The former starter began exclusively working out of the bullpen in the minors last season, with impressive results. Advertisement In 32 games with the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys last season, Whitley comiled a 4-1 record, with a 1.89 ERA and 45 strikouts in 33 and one-thirds innings pitched. 'I think the fact I'm here now pitching with good stuff and healthy and the mindset of having failed so many times and having gone through so much adversity, it's made me undoubtedly a stronger person out there on the mound,' he told reporters while in camp with the Astros last month. 'I'm not fired up that it happened, by any means, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity.' Related: Astros Dealing With $60 Million Problem After Risky Offseason
