Astros Relief Hopeful Held Out Of Bullpen

One Houston Astros pitching prospect had to shut down his bullpen session before it even started on Saturday due to a sore right middle finger, per MLB.com.

Forrest Whitley, who has been with the Astros organization since 2016 and a pitcher the team hopes can compete for a middle relief role, passed on his bullpen session and then visited team doctors for an examination, per The Athletic.

It’s just the latest hurdle for the right-hander, whom the Astros were able to keep for 2024 on a rare fourth-year option for a player they’ve held the rights to for eight years.

Last year Whitley pitched for Triple-A Sugar Land and went 1-2 in eight appearances with a 5.70 ERA. He posted a solid strikeout rate, fanning 32 batters in 30 innings. But he missed the back half of the season with a lat strain.

That has been Whitley’s pattern throughout his career — progress and then pain.

The Astros used their first-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft on Whitley, who played his high school baseball at Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio, Texas.

Whitley reached Triple-A for the first time in 2018 as he quickly advanced through the Astros’ system after his selection. Houston put Whitley on their 40-man roster after the 2020 season to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

But, in the next spring training, he blew out his right elbow and missed the entire season after Tommy John surgery.

He returned in June of 2022, when he pitched in the Florida Complex League on a rehab assignment. That was his first professional appearance since September of 2019, as COVID-19 shut down all of minor league baseball in 2020.