Mar 1, 2023; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown (58) throws a pitch against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports
The Houston Astros have high hopes for star prospect Hunter Brown but his spring debut on Wednesday was about as bad as it gets.
Right-handed pitcher Hunter Brown is the top prospect in the Houston Astros organization. The 24-year-old is also the No. 43 overall prospect in MLB for the 2023 season as well. All signs point to him factoring into the Astros pitching rotation at some point this season, whether that’s Opening Day or later.
Whenever that happens, though, they have to hope that the results will be better than what he showed on Wednesday as Brown made his Spring Training debut against the Red Sox.
Getting the start against Boston, Brown allowed four runners to reach base on one infield single, one catcher’s interference and two walks. To make matters worse, he walked in a run and also hit a batter to concede another run. His control was simply not there as he only threw 13 strikes in his first 26 pitches and fell behind in the count 1-0 or worse against four of the first six batters he faced.
Astros No. 1 prospect Hunter Brown has disastrous debut in Spring Training
Brown ended up getting out of the inning allowing only two runs but his stat line left a lot to be desired. The 2019 fifth-round draft pick lasted just the one frame while giving up one hit, two runs (one earned), two walks, hitting a batter and only striking out one.
It is just one start, so there’s no reason to overreact. What’s the point of Spring Training if not to get your stuff working? And after all, Brown dominated last year with a 2.55 ERA in Triple-A while also registering a 0.89 ERA in seven appearances for the Astros at the major league level.
Even still, fans want to get excited about players in the spring, especially the young prospects with bright futures. This was definitely not going to get that done when it comes to Brown and fans of the defending World Series champs.
