HIGH HEAT
Exclusive: Astros' Lance McCullers dishes on new arsenal of pitches and getting yoked up
Feb 22, 2021, 6:02 pm
11 high velocity questions for Lance McCullers. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
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Houston Astros pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training in West Palm Beach, Florida, last week.
What a week to start training camp in the warm Florida sun while Houstonians froze in their living rooms like Clark Griswald stuck in the attic. It was a breath of warm air for many Astros who call Houston their year-round home. Many already began relief efforts to help those impacted by the deep freeze.
One of those players actively making a difference is Lance McCullers Jr. Less than 24 hours after arriving for his sixth big league camp, McCullers began making calls to his staff at the Lance McCullers Jr. Foundation to help those suffering the effects of the winter storm.
Lance McCullers Jr. and wife, Kara, also stepping up for Houston pic.twitter.com/hu8RMjefQg
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) February 19, 2021
McCullers is looking for a healthy 2021 after several seasons of dealing with injuries. This year, he only looks to continue his improvement. I caught up with McCullers Jr. to discuss his preparation for the 2021 season.
SportsMap: Happy Spring Training, Lance. How much were you looking forward to spring training in the warm, Florida sun?
Lance McCullers Jr.: I consider Houston my home now. I have lived there for six years. I did just beat the storm before I got down to Spring Training. We are down here in West Palm Beach, but our hearts and thoughts are back in Houston.
SM: Your foundation plays a significant role in the Houston community, and you recently announced on Instagram that the Lance McCullers Jr. foundation would create a plan to help those affected by the freeze. How can Houstonians take part?
LM: The Lance McCullers Jr. Foundation will be setting up a plan to try and help as many Houstonians as we can. Unfortunately, we couldn't control power, and in this case, that is one of the most crucial aspects that needed to be fixed. Now that power is being restored; we are putting a plan in place to get people fresh food and water. We are also helping the animal community with emergency transports and veterinarian needs.
SM: Dusty Baker said you looked like Hercules rolling into training camp. How have you dialed in your fitness and nutrition regime?
LM: Last year in camp, I came in good physical condition, but I was 10 to 12 pounds under what I was hoping to be because of my rehabilitation schedule (from Tommy John surgery in 2019). I stopped rehabilitation in November 2019, and I took off about a month to rest and recover before I started training again in December. This year, being fully healthy, I started training right away on November 1. That has helped me get the extra weight back on. I've made huge strides in the nutrition and recovery department, and I am hoping and expecting it to keep me healthy. I'm feeling great. I'm starting Spring Training in a great place, and I'm looking to maintain it. The hard part during the season is, as your body wears and breaks down, it's hard to stay in excellent condition. I think I have a plan in place to make it happen and to pitch the best baseball of my career.
Ring season pic.twitter.com/5ecsHBrChp
— Will Doctor (@Doctor_w1) February 20, 2021
SM: What was your favorite quarantine meal?
LM: My favorite quarantine meal was Banza pasta with roasted vegetables topped with marinara sauce and some avocado.
SM: What goals do you have set for Spring Training to be in optimal pitching shape come Opening Day?
LM: In years past, I've always gone into camp saying, "I'm going to work on one pitch specifically." That's because when we go from the season to the offseason to training camp, it's a small amount of time to work on things. We're in season from April to the end of October, and then we have a little bit of rest time. Typically, we are spending the back half of November, December, and January just trying to get in physical shape and to be healthy going into camp. When I had Tommy John, it allowed me to work on pitches like my changeup. I've also added a cutter and other weapons. My goal for this camp is to come in, be healthy, and build up all of my pitches to be ready to go by my first start in April.
SM: Are you pitching every five days in Spring Training, or is it a different routine from the regular season?
LM: I'm building up to that. I have two bullpens before my first two live batting practices against hitters. I'll throw a few more bullpens, and then I start throwing in live games. I do throw every five to six days down here, depending on the schedule. We are a little handcuffed with the schedule because of the COVID-19 protocol with the way it's realigned. We aren't going to get as many off days as previous Spring Training camps, but that can be a good thing because it can prime my body for the regular season.
SM: You have improved nearly every year in MLB. What long-term goals did you create at the beginning of your career that produced this consistent formula?
LM: When you first get called up, you're just happy to be here. After that first year goes by, whether it is successful or not, you start to understand the truth in that saying, "staying here is harder than getting here." Every year new guys are coming into camp that want your spot. It is a very tough competition, especially for a team that expects to compete for a World Series. Look at the guys that I have pitched with, Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, Charlie Morton, Dallas Kuechel. These guys are generational talents. I am lucky to have been in the rotation with these guys. It pushed me. My health hasn't matched where I had hoped it would be up to this point in my career. My ability to have successful seasons when I am on the field has been there. The last thing for me to figure out is how to have continued success while being on the field more often.
SM: The hair is flowing going into Spring Training. Will you be sticking with the man bun, or will you switch to the tight fade once the dog days of summer roll around?
LM: I think the man bun is going to be around for a while. These first days of camp, my hair has been a bit wind-blown. My hair gets curly in dry weather, so I try to keep it wet. There might be a small trim that happens somewhere along the way, but it won't be Jurassic.
SM: How do you spend your off days in West Palm Beach?
LM: Because of the COVID-19 protocols, we are confined to the hotel room or the beach. Luckily, Florida has a lot of beautiful beaches and outdoor activities. Most of our off-days are spent at the beach or pool.
SM: Will you and Carlos Correa keep "The Walkout" UFC podcast going through the season?
LM: Absolutely. We are signed with SiriusXM. We did it last year during the season, and it became great for us. The pandemic came with many restrictions on the road, and being able to do a podcast together made it fun during that time. The podcast is here to stay, and we are looking forward to keeping it going this year.
SM: What will your 2021 pre-game playlist consist of?
LM: Spotify recently added a personalized "time capsule" playlist, consisting of all the songs I used to listen to. Roddy Rich and Drake have albums dropping soon, so we'll see how the first quarter of 2021 goes, music-wise.
To support the Lance McCullers Jr. Foundation winter relief fund, go tohttps://e.givesmart.com/events/kLW/
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There's no denying that this year's World Series champs (LA Dodgers) have some serious firepower on their roster. And one of the ways they were able to assemble such a talented team involved players like Shohei Ohtani being willing to differ their money.
Just this week, there was some speculation that the Yankees could do something similar when restructuring Gerrit Cole's contract, that would allow them more flexibility in the present.
The Yankees ended up calling Cole's bluff about opting out, and no adjustment was made to the contract.
But this situation got us thinking, would the Astros consider a tactic like this to maximize the roster? At this point, it doesn't seem all that likely. Just last year, the team handed out a $95 million contract to Josh Hader, without any differed money.
The other factor that also has to come into play is the tax threshold. The organization would have to give the okay to go over it again in order to make a splash signing this offseason. Which unfortunately does not sound like the plan right now when listening to GM Dana Brown at the Winter Meetings.
Astros pitcher hires a new agent
Now that MLB free agency is in full swing, most of the attention moving forward will be focused on players like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, and Juan Soto.
But for Astros fans, there might be someone else to keep an eye on this offseason and next. Starting pitcher Hunter Brown quietly hired super agent Scott Boras recently.
With Brown still another season away from his first year of arbitration, he should be with the Astros for the foreseeable future.
However, the hiring of Boras does raise some interesting questions. Why make the move now? Certainly, Brown could use some more cash, as he's set to make less than a million in 2025.
Perhaps Brown wants to land some HEB commercials to fatten his wallet. And if Bregman does leave the team in free agency, a spot will open up for another player, in theory. And three of the players in the HEB ads are represented by Boras (Jose Altuve, Lance McCullers Jr. and Bregman).
Jeremy Pena has been stacking cash from Taquerias Arandas for several years now, maybe Brown would like an opportunity to do an endorsement similar to that.
I say all this half kidding, but Brown does look like the future ace of this staff, and I'm sure there are plenty of advertisers that would have interest in Hunter.
There is another element that could have initiated the hiring of Boras. Would Brown be willing to sign an extension early with the Astros similar to the deal the team made with Cristian Javier?
Their situations are actually pretty comparable, except Javier was one year further into his career (3 years of MLB service time) and eligible for arbitration before agreeing to the extension.
If Brown was heading into arbitration this offseason, it wouldn't be surprising at all for the Astros to be considering a long-term deal with him that buys up all his arbitration years. The 'Stros love these types of contract extensions. We've seen them do it with Bregman, the aforementioned Javier, and others.
One of the main differences though between Brown and Javier is their rookie year numbers. Brown only pitched 20.1 innings in his first season (2022). While Javier pitched 54.1 innings his rookie year. However, his rookie season was in 2020, so Javier completed a full year of service time despite the shortened season. Whereas Brown didn't get called up until September 2022.
Another difference is performance. Javier never posted an ERA over 3.55 in his first three seasons. As opposed to Brown, who had a disastrous year in 2023. He made 29 starts, recording an ERA over 5.
It wasn't until May of 2024 that Brown started using his two-seam fastball with great success and becoming one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League.
The Astros had a bigger sample size to judge Javier. However, if Brown has another quality season in 2025, Houston and Brown should definitely be having conversations about an extension. Especially with Framber Valdez being in the final year of his contract in 2025. Hunter could be the unquestioned ace one year from now.
Still, though, there are some concerns with handing out these early extensions. For example, if the Astros had it to do over again, would they still extend Javier?
After receiving his extension before the 2023 season, he went on to post the highest ERA of his career (4.56), and then blew out his elbow in May 2024.
And if we're going by Luis Garcia's recovery timeline from Tommy John surgery, we may not see Javier pitch at all in 2025.
So even with a sample size of three terrific seasons, the Javier extension looks like a miss with the benefit of hindsight. It will be interesting to see if that deal impacts Dana Brown's decision-making going forward.
Especially since Javier was Dana's first big contract extension as the Astros GM.
Be sure to watch the video as we discuss how the Astros can get the most out of their roster, the pros and cons of signing Hunter Brown early, and much more!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon. Find all via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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