Dallas Keuchel is back to 2015 form - MLB

In 2015, Astros starter Dallas Keuchel won the American League Cy Young Award after posting a stellar 2.48 ERA and 1.017 WHIP in 33 starts. He also struck out 216 batters in a league-high 232 innings. In the playoffs he led the Astros to a win over the Yankees in the American League Wild Card Game, tossing six shutout innings.

Heading into 2016 it was expected that Keuchel would once again anchor the Astros’ staff. Unfortunately, it was a bad campaign for the sinkerballer. He had a shoulder injury and, even when he was pitching, he suffered command problems. He finished the season with a 9-12 record and a 4.55 ERA. His hits and walks allowed were up and his strikeouts were down. The sinker wasn’t sinking and his groundball percentage was down. Even when the ball was hit on the ground, it found holes, with his BABIP going from an excellent .269 in 2015 to .304 last year.

Heading into this season, the biggest question the Astros had was whether their rotation would be good enough to help the team get back to the playoffs. If Keuchel could be an ace again, the club would be in good shape. If not, [cliche movie quote about problems/Houston deleted]. Well, the club is in good shape again.

Keuchel has gone exactly seven innings in each of his first four starts. He allowed zero runs in his first start of the year and one each in the next three, including last night’s win over the Angels. He’s 3-0 with 22 strikeouts and only six walks in 28 innings and a 0.96 ERA. He has been inducing grounders at a 70% clip and opposing hitters have a mere .194 average on balls in play.

In other words, Keuchel is Keuchel again. And because of that it’s no accident that the Astros are tied for the most wins in baseball.

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Houston Astros star Jose Altuve had surgery Wednesday on his broken right thumb, an injury that occurred in the World Baseball Classic and will significantly delay the second baseman’s 2023 debut.

The Astros announced that the 32-year-old Altuve had the procedure done in Houston and will stay there to begin his rehabilitation, with only one week left in spring training. The Astros will fly there on Sunday following their final Grapefruit League game in Florida, before playing a pair of exhibitions against their Triple-A team, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, in Texas.

Altuve was hit by a pitch on Saturday while playing for Venezuela in the WBC. He might not be ready to return to the lineup until at least late May. The eight-time All-Star and 2017 American League MVP batted .300 with 103 runs, 28 homers and 18 steals for the World Series champion Astros last season. Mauricio Dubón and David Hensley are the leading candidates to fill in for Altuve at second base.

Altuve isn’t the only Major League Baseball star who was hurt in WBC play, of course. Mets closer Edwin Díaz will miss the 2023 season because of a torn patellar tendon in his right knee as the freak result of an on-field celebration following a WBC win by the Puerto Rico national team.

BROWN DOWN

The Astros also scratched right-hander Hunter Brown from his scheduled start Wednesday against the Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Manager Dusty Baker told reporters that Brown, who is ranked by MLB as the organization’s top prospect and competing for the last spot in the rotation, has discomfort in his lower back.

NOT QUITE READY

The New York Mets sent catcher Francisco Álvarez to Triple-A Syracuse, quashing for now the possibility of putting the prized 21-year-old on the opening day roster.

Álvarez, who made his major league debut with the Mets near the end of last season, had just three hits in 28 at-bats in Grapefruit League exhibition games. Ranked by MLB as the third-best prospect in baseball, Álvarez batted .260 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in a combined 112 minor league games in 2022 at Double-A and Triple-A.

The Mets have newcomer Omar Narváez, a 2021 All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers, as their primary catcher with Tomás Nido likely to play mostly against left-handed pitchers.

Speaking of the Mets, Díaz turned 29 on Wednesday – a rather subdued milestone for the right-hander considering his situation. Diaz nonetheless posted in Spanish an upbeat message on his Twitter account, thanking God for another year of life and describing his health as good and his outlook as positive in this initial stage of the roughly eight-month rehabilitation process.