Houston is off to a good start
Analyzing the 4-2 start to 2022 for the Houston Astros
Apr 15, 2022, 5:23 pm
Jeremy Pena has been a bright spot for Houston. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.
After the extended offseason due to the lockout between owners and players, we have finally returned to regular-season baseball. Houston's year has kicked off with a nine-game road trip, with six of those in the book and the Astros sporting a 4-2 record.
Over that span, we've had our first look at the current rotation and different permeations of the batting order. Here are a few things we've learned in the very early goings of 2022:
So far, so good for Peña
There's no question that there were a lot of expectations on the shoulders of 24-year-old Jeremy Peña before opening day. He's been a bright spot so far for the Astros; despite going 0-for-4 on opening day, he has since had seven hits over twenty at-bats, including his first career homer in the second game of the season, where he had a three-hit performance.
Baseball is the best.
Jeremy Peña hits his first career home run during a live interview with his parents during the at-bat. pic.twitter.com/GWE6IfiIRT
— Houston Astros (@astros) April 9, 2022
He's also one of the few players that have been in the lineup all six games so far, as Dusty Baker has used the early part of the season to continue to ramp players back to normal, saying, "Whether you like it or not, I've said it repeatedly, we're still in spring training." Although Peña has one error so far at shortstop, he has otherwise been fine defensively, showing he's worthy of being the everyday shortstop in place of Carlos Correa.
Verlander looks like himself in return
.@JustinVerlander is back!
He starts his first game since 2020 with a strikeout of the AL MVP. pic.twitter.com/luYd1C72PF
— MLB (@MLB) April 10, 2022
Although a slow night at the plate behind him resulted in him starting the season with a 0-1 record, Justin Verlander's first start since 2020 was good against the Angels in Anaheim. He showed normal velocity and held Los Angeles to one run on three hits while striking out seven over five innings of work.
Like most pitchers in the MLB in their first start of the year, he was held to a pitch count of around 80, which got him through the five frames. His next start will be Saturday in Seattle against the Mariners, where he'll hope to get more run support to get his first win of the year.
Speaking of pitching
Houston's pitching staff has done very well to start 2022, as they currently sit as the best team in the league with a combined 1.69 ERA. Framber Valdez was given the ball on Opening Day and provided the Astros a shutout performance over 6.2 innings but struggled in his second start. It took him 75 pitches to get through just three innings while allowing a run to the Diamondbacks.
Jake Odorizzi went four frames in his first start, giving up two runs but not factoring into the decision, Jose Urquidy had an efficient five-inning, one-run start on 72 pitches, while Luis Garcia rounded out the first trip through the rotation with four innings of scoreless pitching in Arizona in the fifth game of the season. The bullpen has also been impressive, with returning arms partnering with newcomers like Hector Neris and Rafael Montero, who have been solid additions thus far.
Lance McCullers Jr. was also able to play catch this week, showing a promising step towards returning to the rotation at some point in the future to bolster Houston's pitching staff further.
Draw your own conclusions about the offense
While a slow night at the plate resulted in the shutout that earned them the first loss of the year, the Astros have put up 4.8 runs per game in the other five, fueled in part by a strong 13-6 win against the Angels on a night when they had six homers. The other games haven't been to that same level, but they've also been essentially running a different lineup every day as players get days off.
Though starting the year off slow at the plate is not foreign to Houston, it's hard to tell if that's the case so far with such a small sample size of six games. Alex Bregman received AL Player of the Week honors after his hot start in Anaheim, looking like he is truly healthy and ready to get back into potential MVP conversations this year. Jose Altuve has had a rough go of things, currently sitting at a .150 average, while Kyle Tucker sits at .130 and Yordan Alvarez at .143, not the averages they'd hope for six games in. Let's not forget, though, that the Astros won't have their first home game of the season until Monday, which will be their first chance to take advantage of the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park. It's not time to panic just yet.
They may not have all been lopsided seven-run wins, yet all in all, the Astros would be more than happy to continue winning games at the 4-2 clip they have started the year with, as that would put them on track to have a 100-plus win season.
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Astros keep doing this, and it’s getting hard to ignore
Jun 25, 2025, 10:01 pm
While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.
The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.
Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.
As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.
The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.
VanVleet signs extension
Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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