Finally, after more than two years of injury hell, Lance McCullers Jr. gave the Houston Astros a glimpse of the pitcher he used to be on Wednesday. The righty was downright brilliant in a win over the Athletics, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out 12 batters over six innings of work. He had looked like a shell of himself since making his season debut a few weeks ago; and then, all of a sudden, he was spinning breaking balls like it was 2021 again.
It could not have come at a better time for Astros, who are desperate for rotation help in the wake of Ronel Blanco's elbow injury — just the latest in a seemingly never-ending string of bad breaks for this pitching staff so far this season. But it's even more meaningful for McCullers personally, considering what he's been through over the last few weeks and years.
As if having to wade through two lost seasons due to a flexor tendon issue weren't hard enough, a certain corner of Houston's fan base showed McCullers zero grace in his return to the mound, going so far as to allegedly threaten both the pitcher and his family after a particularly ugly outing back on May 10. That behavior is never acceptable under any circumstances, and it looks even worse now that McCullers is starting to look like his old self.
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Certain Astros fans need to look in the mirror after disturbing behavior
To be clear: McCullers could have given up seven runs a start for the rest of the year and it still wouldn't have come anywhere close to justifying making threats to his personal safety and that of his children. That's simply a line you do not cross, ever; these are human beings first and foremost.
But it somehow looks even worse when you consider what McCullers had to go through to just put himself back in a position to try and help his team at the big-league level. This is a man who missed more than two full years amid elbow surgery and related setbacks. After that much time away from an MLB mound, everyone should have expected that there would be some bumps in the road as McCullers shook off the rust and began to trust his arm again. And now one should be surprised that he looks better and better the more reps he gets under his belt.
Lance McCullers Jr. is starting to look like his old self
Even before Wednesday's outing, McCullers was showing some signs of life. The command wasn't locked in yet, which led to inflated pitch counts and inefficient outings. But both his slider and his curveball — the backbones of his arsenal — boasted as much movement as they ever had, suggesting that better times were right around the corner.
Sure enough, we saw it on Wednesday. McCullers still threw 53 balls to just 49 strikes, but when you're generating 18 swinging strikes over six innings, you can get away with a little wildness. There's stil room for growth here: McCullers' sinker continues to be a weakness, giving up way too much hard contact, and you can tell that he still doesn't have the ability to place his pitches quite the way he wants to. But the overall repertoire looks shockingly like it did before he got hurt, when he was earning downballot AL Cy Young consideration. If that's the pitcher who sticks around for the stretch run, it'll give Houston a much-needed third arm behind Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown.