#hurston-waldrep

#hurston-waldrep

Hurston Waldrep hopes to rebound with better command than his last outing and continue his breakout second half against an injury-riddled Astros lineup.

Things did not start well for Hurston, as a one out walk to Cal Raleigh in the first turned into a two run homer from Julio Rodriguez. He then issued another walk to Naylor, but locked in with a strikeout of Eugenio Suarez. There were no baserunners for either team in the second, despite 105+ MPH line drives from Kim and Harris. Waldrep struggled with command again in the third, issuing a walk to Arozarena and hitting Rodriguez on the hand, but struck out Raleigh and Suarez on his way to a scoreless frame.

One month ago, Hurston Waldrep was still a maybe. Maybe he can develop into a back-end starter. Maybe he'll end up in the bullpen. Maybe he can figure things out and be a factor next year. Then, the game at Bristol Motor Speedway happened. That was only a month ago, believe it or not. The game started when it probably shouldn't have because it was the marquee MLB game in front of more than 90,000 fans.

Thankfully, with questions abound coming off the suspension, Profar has been excellent since returning in early July. His numbers are equal to - if not better - than his career breakout season in 2024 with the Padres. His slugging numbers are through the roof, and he's walked more times than he's struck out since returning. His defense has even been less shaky over the last few weeks.

The young righty threw a lot of pitches in this one, as it took 102 pitches to get through 5.2 innings, but the splitter was working. Waldrep got whiffs on 52% (13 of 25 swings) of his splitters, and he ended up with 9 strikeouts on the evening. The Philadelphia Phillies clearly struggled to figure out what the pitch was doing, and Waldrep looked every part the former first-round pick. He ran into really only a couple of issues.

It's not much hyperbole to say Waldrep's two-start debut in 2024 was an unmitigated disaster. He struck out 3 guys, walked 8, and gave up 3 home runs in 7 innings, which was good (?) enough for a 16.71 ERA. The former first-round pick looked anything but. 2025, however, has been much better over 30 innings. While the 0.90 ERA is certainly not sustainable, he's now striking out more than he's walking, and he's been able to avoid the long ball.

I was in my rhythm again and attacking from the first pitch. I think moving the ball very well, the strike zone in, was good for me today. I think we are doing a great job, man. We lost the game but it's part of the game. You've got to keep going.