The team announced Sunday that Andrew Heaney would be the starter on March 26 in Houston. Other potential candidates included Dylan Bundy and Julio Teheran.
When you think about it, with no clear ace and Heaney being the only established starter who has actually pitched a game for the Halos, this is a no-brainer. Heaney, 28, pitched 95.1 innings in an injury-shortened 2019 with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. He will look to replicate his 2018 success.
Since Heaney will be the first pitcher to pitch to the Houston Astros in the 2020 regular season, all eyes will be on him to see if he will bean a hitter or two. Although commissioner Rob Manfred has preached “zero tolerance”, there are some fans who would definitely support such actions.
Under much different circumstances, in July, Heaney pumped in a first pitch curveball to George Springer in honor of Tyler Skaggs, and the batter did not swing.
One thing is for sure: Opening Day can’t come any sooner.
Photo by Rex Clevinger
His spring numbers aren’t real reassuring. At least he won’t be facing Verlander.
Heaney, Bundy, Teheran, Andriese, and a 5th starter (Barria) as needed in the month of April given the off-day situation. Of course it’s just spring training, but it’s good to see guys putting together solid outings as they build up pitch counts and stamina for March 26.
Best case scenario is Pena comes back by May and that will help stretch out the rotation. I would really hope to see Sandoval, Suarez and Peters all pitching in Salt Lake. Sandoval and Suarez especially are young and can benefit from more AAA time. They were rushed up out of necessity last year and the results weren’t good.
Heaney is deserving of this honor, and I agree with Maddon he’s poised for a huge year. Faulting a guy for being hurt seems a bit trite. Even when he’s been hurt or “off”, Heaney has still been a solid MLB pitcher in his career to-date. He’s had a career WHIP of 1.25 and ERA of 4.44. That’s still above-average, as all pitchers in MLB in 2019 were 1.33 and 4.51 respectively, in 2019. If I had to bet, I’m betting Heaney puts up an above-average career year in 2020. He’s 28, in the prime spot of his career and looks ready to put it all together. Maddon tapping him like this can only boost his confidence.
Well-deserved. There’s some ceremony that goes along with a choice like opening day starter. Heaney is the right choice.
Though I do feel that Andrew will have something of a bounceback year, I am not sure I would have chosen him to be starter on Opening Day in Houston. He will likely face three All-Star right handed bats right away in the 1st, with Springer, Altuve and Bregman. This might have been a good game to start with an Opener. I like the idea of having Buttrey open this game and then hand it off to Andrew.
It won’t take too many games where our starter gives up 2 or 3 runs in the 1st inning before Maddon begins to look at the “Opener” philosophy pretty seriously.
Castro should just tell them which pitch is coming. “This one is headed for your ribs – good luck Georgie boy”. Make some banging noises on his equipment every other pitch, fast ball or not. Get in their heads.
All-Star* or not, this has to put some pressure on those guys too.
As a fan I can’t imagine anything lamer than a relief pitcher starting on opening day
Maybe it doesn’t sound sexy, but if it works then it is a good idea. Alot of folks last year were not happy with the “Opener” but overall we had pretty good results with it. Buttrey was nails in April so I feel pretty confident coming out of the box that a fresh Buttrey will bring the quality heat with movement. For a team like the Astros the last thing you want to do is find yourself behind 3-0 or 4-0. The game could over by the 2nd inning.
Let’s see if he makes it to Opening Day.
Ahhh but you do have others that have pitched for the Angels (but not as noteworthy) as Barria and Sandavol and lets not forget that last years opener was Cahill who had not pitched for the Angels before.
So not so much a no brainer.
They’re not established, and they were not so good last year. Heaney IIRC missed the start of last season, and that’s what swung it in Cahill’s favor.
Sweet. He deserves it.