Yes- he would be a Fa after the 2029 season. yes- Whitley hitting and being a TOR guy has HUGE implications for the franchise. Like pay Altuve, Bregman and Tucker implications and extend World Series contending window at least through 2027 (right now it ends at 2024 if they don’t extend those guys imo). Still maybe a playoff team- but not a 100 win juggernaught.
I am sure that they didn't put it to him this way - but basically they just went and simplified everything for him. In the past the Astros wouldn't worry about the walks or lack of repeated delivery, believing that guys would get better at it as they get more muscle memory and stronger. It allowed the Astros to have guys get more out of their stuff velocity wise. It is different with Whitley though because he doesn't need to have a complicated or high torque delivery, as his stuff is good enough AND he also struggles with injuries and stamina with that type of delivery. After years, it looks like they have finally got him to agree to a very simple and repeatable delivery and to accept his thin frame. There will be some degree of injury concerns for years, even if he does well...... and I have some concern with his fastball, because it was REALLY flat at the beginning of Spring Training, but it looks like Murphy has got him not overthrowing it and trusting movement.
That’s probably ideal. If LMJ is delayed and someone goes down though I’d hope they’d slide him in if he’s ready.
He’s still throwing it all. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/player-scroll/game?gamePk=721805&player_id=666215
Blair Henley and Tyler Guilfoil both turned in 5 shutout innings. Guilfoil: H, BB, 6 K Henley: 4 H, BB, 6 K
6ks is good and his velo was great. Looks like he may have battled control issues. But he only gave up 6 hard hit balls and 2 of those were on the ground, so he was probably only 2-3 pitches away from having another scoreless outing.
As long as he continues to get his innings in, I'm okay with a few rough starts here and there. Whitley needs to get his reps in resilience in too. You know, get knocked around a bit to figure out what's working and what's not. It'll also lower the fans expectations to a more manageable level. Get him through a solid half AAA season without injury and then people can really start making some informed guesses as to what role he'll play with the big league club.
Buttery did him no favors: Whitley returned for the eighth and surrendered a lead-off single to Trenton Brooks but struck out Dermis García and coaxed a pop out from Kevin Cron for the first two outs in the inning. Allen worked a walk to bring an end to the night for Whitley, who was replaced by RHP Ty Buttrey (BS,1). Buttery walked JJ Bleday to load up the bases and an infield single from Gelof scored two runs, giving Las Vegas an 8-7 lead. Not your average 2RBI single...I'm assuming the ball bounced off a glove and rolled away
