Spring Training games are officially underway and the Houston Astros are getting ready for an exciting season that starts with a matchup against Gerrit Cole and the Yankees on Opening Day.

And while we assumed it would be a classic battle between Cole and Justin Verlander, that all changed when JV announced he was two weeks behind schedule with some shoulder stiffness.

That news terrified Astros fans at the time, but we can all relax for now. Verlander hasn't been shutdown or anything like that. He's still throwing his bullpen sessions and trying to get back on track. Only time will tell if he'll be ready for the start of the season.

JV is taking his time and listening to the trainers, as he doesn't want a repeat of last season, when he wasn't able to pitch until May after straining his teres major (a muscle near the lat).

With Verlander a question mark to start the season, all the attention turns to Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier. Chandler Rome wrote an article recently for The Athletic highlighting Astros pitching coach Bill Murphy. Murphy travels to the Dominican Republic every offseason to work with several of the club's pitchers.

With Valdez, he's trying to help recapture Framber's ability to force batters to hit the ball on the ground at a high level with his sinker. Via: Chandler Rome of The Athletic:

"The pitch generated just a 54.3 percent ground-ball rate last season, down from 68.6 percent in 2022 and 74.9 percent in 2021."

If Framber can get the sinker going again along with his nasty curveball, he should be set for a bounce back season in 2024. Inducing all those extra ground balls should also help keep his pitch count down and allow him to go deeper into games. Hello double play ball!

“El Reptil”

Cristian Javier is a different story, however. His struggles might be fixed just by dropping 15 pounds over the offseason. If Javier's right and his weight gain was throwing off his mechanics, he could put up numbers similar to 2022 when he had a 2.54 ERA.

Pitching through the 2022 World Series and then having to quickly get ready for the World Baseball Classic last spring certainly took a toll. The extra rest this offseason should help.

News from the weekend

Some other important notes from the weekend include GM Dana Brown's update on Ronel Blanco. The plan is to keep him stretched out to add depth to the starting rotation should they need it.

We also heard from owner Jim Crane who believes the Astros have 8 starting pitchers when Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr return around mid-season. The Astros will have the luxury of moving a couple of starters to the bullpen when everyone is healthy. So don't expect any additions to the rotation from outside the organization.

Be sure to check out the video as we discuss the latest on the rotation, and which pitchers we believe have the best shot at cracking the backend of the rotation after Verlander, Valdez, and Javier.

Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange and Josh Jordan every Monday on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. We'll continue to drop new videos throughout the week.

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