The Astros have claimed right-hander Collin McHugh off waivers from the Rockies, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post (Twitter link). The Rockies designated the 26-year-old McHugh for assignment earlier in the week to make room on the 40-man roster for lefty Boone Logan.
Acquired from the Mets over the summer in exchange for Eric Young Jr., McHugh didn't pan out in Colorado any more than he had in his previous auditions in New York. He allowed four homers and 21 earned runs in 19 innings for the Rockies, bringing his ERA on the season to 10.04. McHugh has allowed 47 earned runs in 47 1/3 career innings at the big league level.
However, McHugh has a strong 3.58 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 173 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. The Astros appear to be betting on that upside with this claim.
Another AAAA player for the Astros? Let’s hope not.
Some depth to make the deep end of the Astros talent pool deeper. Could be very useful if one of the starters bombs, or if Luhnow stays with the two-starter-a-game minor league approach.
Mchugh showed some flashes of being a pretty good pitcher on the mets. Nice little claim for the astros, low risk high reward type.
How Alderson got Eric Young for Collin McHugh remains a mystery.
H/9 will always be the problem for Mchugh. Batters tee off on his batting practice type pitching.
In 47.1 IP McHugh is 0-8 with an 8.94 ERA and 13.7 H/9.
He pitched a 7 inning 2 hit, 1 walk shutout in his MLB debut….but the mets bullpen blew it.