By Javier González
Although Lance McCullers Jr is still a young pitcher he has had a great start to his career. In fact he has been so successful that the Houston Astros rewarded him a contract extension valued 85 over 5 years inspite of his recent return from Tommy John surgery in 2019.
In his young career has only work the uniform of the Astros and already owns a World Series ring and an all-star selection. These accomplishments have caught the eye of Houston’s top brass. Another the catches one’s eye is how dominant he is at Minute Maid Park. McCullers seems to feed off the energy of the home crowd and this motivates him to be nearly unhittable at home.
At home the righthander has a record of 21-8, 2.57 ERA and 337 strikeouts in 294 innings pitched. In 49 innings his opponents have slashed .204/.283/.326/.609 against the flamethrower.
In contrast his numbers are quite pedestrian on the road. In his 53 starts outside the confines of Minute Maid Park he has a balance of 14-18 and earned run average of 4.79, while opponents have posted a line of .256/.342/.402/.744 against McCullers.
This Sunday after his start in which he pitched six scoreless innings, he spoke to Pelota Cubana about his dominance at home. I asked the Cuban-American pitcher about how pitching at home motivates him,” I love to pitch at Minute Maid Park. I love this city, because it’s my home. Pitching in front of our fanatics is something that motivates greatly. Coming back from Tommy John I wanted to be my part and be a part of future winning franchises. My record is definitely a reflection of home dominant I’ve been at home.”
At the age of 27 the young pitcher seems to be coming into his own and could be the linchpin of the Astros rotation for years to come.