Houston Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. told reporters Wednesday that he won’t be ready to go, come the start of the season. According to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle:
McCullers added that there is no structural damage in the arm, as well that his Ulnar Collateral Ligament remains undamaged. He’ll still be shut down for multiple weeks, which makes a season-opening stint on the injured list seem likely.
Once again, it’s another unfortunate health setback for Lance McCullers Jr. who was limited to just eight starts in the regular season, as well as three in the postseason a season ago. The absence was due to a forearm strain dating back to the 2021 American League Division Series. The 2022 season marked the second time in four years that McCullers has missed significant with an arm injury. The 29-year-old missed the entire 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in Nov. 2018.
Heading into 2023, the season was looking promising for McCullers and the Astros. They did lose Justin Verlander in the offseason, but still have an incredible amount of pitching depth that features McCullers, Framber Valdez, Christian Javier, Luis Garcia, and Jose Urquidy. They also have one of the top starting pitching prospects in Hunter Brown, who might crack the rotation at some point.
Though, the loss of McCullers at the beginning of the season could hurt the Astros. The right-hander is one the most-talented pitchers on the staff, evidenced by four consecutive sub-4.00 ERA seasons with consistently above-average strikeout rates and premium ground-ball rates. Over the past 393 1/3 regular-season innings, McCullers touts a 3.39 ERA, a 26.5% strikeout rate and a huge 55.6% ground-ball rate. His 10.3% walk rate in that time could stand to be improved upon, but his strikeout and ground-ball rates have helped mitigate what has at times been sub-par command.
There is no reports as to when McCullers could be back yet, which could mean an IL stint to open the season is imminent. If that’s the case, the Astros could deploy Brown in the starting rotation out of the gate. As for now, he is shutdown til at least mid-March when the Astros should have a clearer timetable.
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