Houston Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. will start against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, marking his first appearance in an MLB contest since Game 3 of the 2022 World Series — or, nearly 30 months ago to the day.
“I’m really excited to have him on the mound on Sunday,” Astros skipper Joe Espada told reporters Wednesday. “He’s worked his tail off to get back to this point, and this whole entire team and this city should be excited to get Lance back.”
McCullers initially missed the 2023 season after undergoing an operation to address his right flexor tendon and to alleviate a bone spur. He attempted to come back last summer, but experienced a setback that caused his season to end without so much as a rehab appearance. He’s since pitched four times this year, with two of those coming for Triple-A Corpus Christi.
In those outings, McCullers has shown slightly reduced fastball velocity (92 mph) compared to where he was during the 2022 regular season (93 mph). He’s notably thrown more changeups and curveballs than any other pitch, suggesting he intends to resume his secondary-first approach.
McCullers, 31, has appeared in 130 career MLB games since his 2015 debut, with 127 of those coming in starts. He’s put together a 3.48 ERA (118 ERA+) and a 2.70 strikeout-to-walk ratio, all the while amassing 11 Wins Above Replacement, according to the estimates housed at Baseball Reference. In addition to those statistics, McCullers is a former All-Star who finished top 10 in Cy Young Award voting in 2021.
The Astros entered May with a 16-14 record on the season, putting them in second place in the American League West, two games back of the Seattle Mariners (+195 to win the division, per DraftKings). The Astros will have Thursday off before beginning that aforementioned series against the White Sox.
Add Comment