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4w ago

Astros Rehire Brent Strom as Short-Term Pitching Consultant

The team brought back the architect of its pitching program to help steady a rotation that has struggled with high ERA, starter turnover and control problems during a late-season division push.

Brent Strom, who led the Astros' pitching staff for much of the team's golden era, is returning as a pitching consultant.
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Close-up of a Pittsburgh Pirates coach wearing sunglasses and a team cap.

Overview

  • Manager Joe Espada said Thursday the Astros hired Brent Strom as a pitching consultant for the rest of the season and that Strom will be in uniform and join the club at Citi Field for the Mets series.
  • Strom will work alongside pitching coach Josh Miller and assistant Ethan Katz in meetings, throwing programs and video analysis, and the club framed the hire as a supplement to the existing staff rather than a replacement.
  • The move responds to clear performance issues: the Astros entered the announcement with a roughly 4.70 team ERA, have used 17 different starting pitchers this year and have seen elevated bullpen workloads from short starts.
  • Independent reporting links Strom to the club’s former 'Astros Lab' development methods that helped pitchers improve under his 2014–21 tenure, and he brings recent MLB experience with the Diamondbacks and Pirates.
  • The hire aims to produce quick, practical fixes — lengthening starts, cutting walks and easing the bullpen — and the immediate effects to watch are starter innings, walk rates and whether the staff stabilizes during the playoff push.