The Launch Angle

Miguel Ullola Called Up

After 2 games where they had to cover at least 5 innings, the bullpen gets some help today as the Astros optioned yesterday’s starter Kai-Weng Teng and called up rookie Miguel Ullola (pronounce it ooh-YO-la), who’s been converted from a starter to a reliever this season in the minors. Ullola was the focus of one of the first pieces of The Launch Angle back in December, and mentioned by both Cody and Exile as a possible call-up this season.

Upon news of his promotion, TLA community member and patron MCN shared his insights on Ullola with us:

Long-time observers have routinely praised Ullola’s fastball, with velo that is MLB average or better, great ride and a bit of cut (an Astros signature).

The Astros have, arguably, stubbornly continued to work him as a starter despite the fact that he has never shown an ability with the fastball or his secondaries to consistently command the strike zone. So despite hitters not being able to routinely square him up, they haven’t needed to do so to get on base, due to the volume of walks.

In my opinion, the bullpen has been his clear path to the majors for at least two seasons, not unlike the path of a young Bryan Abreu. If allowed to air it out and focus on just two pitches and for just one inning, it is entirely possible he could be a weapon as a setup man.

Hunter Brown vs. Jack Flaherty

The Astros have the good fortune of missing Tigers ace Tarik Skubal’s turn in the rotation during this 4-game set. The Tigers will have to face Astros ace Hunter Brown though.

Brown takes the mound today, hoping to rebound from a 3 inning outing yesterday, in which he only allowed 1 run, but require 85 pitches to get through those 3 innings.

“As a starting pitcher, you typically have four or five pitches so you can navigate it on any given night. Maybe three of those five are working, or even two, and tonight I just had zero.”
– Hunter Brown (reported by Matt Kawahara)

Even with the addition of Ullola, the bullpen is still taxed. Efficiency is going to be a must from Brown. That’s not been his strong suit. In 4 starts, he’s only made it 6 innings once. Twice he’s been under 5 innings. Part of that is him returning from injury. Last year he went at least 6 innings in 22 of his 31 starts.

Through 4 games, Brown is 1-0 and carries a 1.40 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and has struck out 28 while walking 11 in 19.1 innings.

The Tigers will starts Jack Flaherty. Flaherty has seen better seasons; he’s 1-8 in 15 starts with a 5.35 ERA, a 1.57 WHIP. He’s kept up his striekout rates with a 10.7 K/9, but his 4.7 BB/9 is the highest in his career in any season he’s pitched at least 40 innings.

Flaherty is also returning from injury. This will be his first game back since going on the IL with abductor inflammation. His last MLB start was on June 12.

On June 23, he made a rehab start with the AA Erie SeaWolves. He pitched 5.2 innings, allowed 2 earned runs (both solo home runs), struck out 7 and walked 1.

Astros @ Tigers Game Information and Gamethread Details

The Astros won yesterday. The Mariners lost. The Astros are 1.5 games back of first in the AL West.

The Rangers also won, and are now just a half game back of the Mariners. The Athletics lost to the Angels, putting them in a tie with the Astros.

The game will be broadcast at 12:40 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM.

This post will be updated with starting lineups as they are made available.

We hope you will join us and the rest of the Launch Angle community for the game! The turnout has been amazing on the TLA Discord Server for the game threads.

Join us again for today’s game. Just join the Discord server using this link: https://launch-angle.com/discord .

For more detailed instructions, please see the Guide to the Launch Angle.

If you’ve participated in game threads on other Astros sites in the past, you will probably see a lot of familiar names. Chat, lurk, do whatever! (But please say “hi”, so we know you’re not a bot.)

Feature photo courtesy of Pixel Pete.