Lance McCullers Jr. DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Houston Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. struck out 12 batters but didn't factor into the decision in a 5-3 victory over the A's. He allowed three runs on five hits and one walk over six innings. His signature knuckle curve stood out as his most effective pitch, inducing 10 whiffs and a 45% swinging strike rate. He now has 20 strikeouts in his past 10 innings, and is looking like the strikeout specialist that he used to be earlier in his career. He'll look to keep things rolling in his next start, which is set to be a promising matchup against the Pirates.

Houston Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. appeared in the fifth inning of a major-league game in Thursday's win over the Seattle Mariners for the first time since Oct. 23 of 2022. He also reached 94.3 mph on the 91st pitch while acknowledging that he had "more in the tank." McCullers struck out eight batters in 4 1/3 innings and generated 14 whiffs -- he had 15 whiffs in his first three starts combined. The velocity on his sinker also crept up to 92.1 mph on Thursday. The 31-year-old threw three pitches over 93 mph in his first three starts but threw seven of them to beat the M's. McCullers' stuff is starting to improve, but now he'll look for more efficiency to go deeper into games following his long layoff of big-league action due to injuries. Walks have been an issue so far, and he now has a 6.57 ERA and 2.03 WHIP in 12 1/3 frames in his first major-league action since 2022.

Houston Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. was reportedly receiving threats following a horrendous outing during Saturday's game. The right-hander received threats to himself and his family after McCullers struggled on Saturday. McCullers allowed seven runs and was only able to record one out before being taken out of the game. Afterwards, the Astros needed to notify the police department and Major League Baseball about the threats towards McCullers. The MLB is currently looking into the threats, but haven't said much more about the situation. There should be zero tolerance for this in baseball, so hopefully the MLB is able to do something about the situation.