Collin McHugh's Struggles are Greatly Exaggerated

Collin McHugh is an excellent pairing to the defending Cy Young in Dallas Keuchel. While McHugh's season debut did not go so well, he has shown ace potential in his career with the Houston Astros. Some people are quick to criticize that McHugh was the recipient of tremendous run support in 2015. Here are some facts.

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McHugh started in 32 games for the Houston Astros in 2015. In 21 of those games, he earned a "quality start." A quality start is a pitcher who goes at least six innings pitched and yields no more than 3 earned runs for the duration of his outing. Yes, technically a pitcher who goes exactly six innings and gives up exactly three earned runs pitched a quality start, despite a 4.50 earned run average for the night.

Approximately two-thirds of the season, Collin McHugh was brilliant on the mound. In these games he collected a 13-2 record with a 2.38 earned run average. In the games in which he failed to pitch to the quality start standard, he was dreadful.

The team ended up being 6-5 (.545 winning percentage.) in these eleven starts, which makes sense for a team that finished the season 86-76 for a .530 winning percentage.

Note that an additional loss for McHugh would have been a .500 record in his bad starts, which is considerably different from .015 percentage points.

Throughout two-plus seasons with the Houston Astros, McHugh has compiled a 30-20 win-loss record, a 3.51 earned run average, and a 3.42 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 358 2/3 innings of work.

Everything will be alright, Astros fans. McHugh has proven himself to be one of the best pitchers in the game. He will continue to produce a winning record as a member of the Astros rotation in 2016.

What to do with Alex Bregman?

The Houston Astros organization has the potential of possessing a good problem. The immediate issue is what to do with Evan Gattis. Tyler White is off to a great start in his MLB career. Preston Tucker is driving in runs, something that he has always done.

Looking ahead, there is a logjam developing at shortstop. Carlos Correa is quickly breaking records and forcing himself into the conversation as the best player in baseball. Alex Bregman is the Astros #1 prospect and is also a shortstop. He may be knocking down the door for being the shortstop soon, as the Astros 2015 first pick is starting the 2016 season for the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks.

Photo Credit: Tammy Tucker

Bregman’s professional baseball career began with an aggressive assignment with the Astros low-A Quad Cities River Bandits team. A well-earned promotion to the Lancaster Jethawks came after just 29 games. Altogether, Bregman hit .294/.366/.415 across 272 at-bats. If his ascension to the major leagues continues at such a torrid pace, where will he play?

What about left field? The 2017 Houston Astros outfield has two question marks. Will Carlos Gomez and Colby Rasmus depart via free agency? The possibilities with these two players alone are endless. The Astros could win the World Series and retain a star outfielder at a discounted price. That would be the Alex Gordon route.

It is also entirely within reason that the Astros fail to win the World Series, fail to reach that point, or fail to reach the postseason at all.

Alex Bregman is completely dedicated to proving himself as a shortstop. In fact, Jim Callis once noted that Bregman gets “’ticked off’” at the suggestion of changing positions. Should the need occur, the move to left field is a logical step toward an optimal Astros lineup.

There is a lot of baseball to be played in the 2016 season. Bregman may not reach the major leagues in an Astros uniform. Luhnow’s acquisitions of Ken Giles, Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers have screamed that the organization is not shy about trading away prospects. Heck, Colin Moran may even be traded, which would open the door for Correa to move to third base to accommodate Bregman opening his career at shortstop.

A change of position is something that Bregman may be unhappy with at first, but the ultimate goal is to help the team win. This discussion is completely void if the Astros decide to move Colin Moran to the outfield instead. As stated before, the possibilities are endless.