40-Man Roster Review: Jandel Gustave

Jandel Gustave has been a Houston Astro for the majority of his professional career. Last season, however, he was briefly a Kansas City Royal. The Astros failed to add him to the 40-man roster and allowed him to be selected by the Boston Red Sox, who then traded him to the Royals. Eventually he was deemed not-quite-ready and offered back to the Astros, who happily accepted him back.

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But most people knew the Royals would not hang onto Gustave. JJ Cooper, a writer with Baseball America, contributed his thoughts last December: 

Gustave touched 100 mph as a starter. Moving to the ‘pen with the Royals (who acquired him for cash from the Red Sox), he could be the hardest-throwing pitcher in the game’s hardest-throwing pen, if he can stick.

For what it's worth, Cooper also said Delino DeShields had a low chance of sticking with the Texas Rangers. Oops.

Anyways, Gustave is back with the Astros and (thankfully) on the 40-man roster. But that is obvious...

Gustave, who will be 23 years old for the entirety of the 2016 season, pitched for the Corpus Christi Hooks in 2015. He was primarily the closer for the club. Gustave recorded 20 saves en route to a 2.15 earned run average in 58 2/3 innings pitched.

I believe that Gustave still has a lot to harness. Yes, he throws hard. But the strikeouts were not really present during his time with the Hooks (just 49). He also displayed signs of wildness, as he walked 25 batters. As rates, these figures come out to 7.5 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9. Together, this is a very abysmal rate, with 1.96 strikeouts coming per walk. Yikes.

If he can improve in those areas while keeping the ball in the park, Gustave will be a very responsible pitcher in the major leagues. Throughout 255 innings in the minor leagues, he has yielded just 9 home runs. Jandel is a young pitcher with a lot of potential and I see him further developing his skills as a member of the Fresno Grizzlies for the whole 2016 season.