Norris, the Opening Day starter for the Astros in their inaugural American League campaign in 2013, shared his thoughts on Houston’s Opening Day starter this year, new staff ace Hunter Brown.
Bud Norris can relate. He had his moment of glory with the Astros as a number one starter in 2013. That day, he’d pave the way for Houston’s inaugural win as a member of the American League. Bud’s excitement bubbled over in a recent conversation with us at the Crawfish Boxes.
Q: How special is going out there
as the ace of a staff?
A: It goes without saying, that it’s a huge honor. You can only nominate one guy for Opening Day and there’s only 30 teams in baseball. It’s an opportunity to showcase yourself to your team and the fans. Hunter has earned that. It’s an entire body of work. It’s the years of high school ball, college, the minor leagues, all of that. They all accumulate to that moment and a special day. It’s also about being consistent for 30 starts and getting this club back into the postseason.
Q: What makes Hunter’s stuff so good? We saw moments yesterday where he dominated but also moments where he went deep into counts, running up his total pitch count.
A: He’s a big figure out there. He’s 6’5”, has an over-the-top motion and he gets really good angles which makes his breaking pitches that much better. His curve ball has a lot of bite to it and guys don’t really get good looks at it. I like the way he attacks the strike zone. He might have been trying to be a little too perfect in spots.
Q: He really grew up last year did he not?
A: Every time he went out there last season, he gave his team five, six, seven, eight innings or more, he was always pitching deep into ballgames and had a work horse mentality. And so now, when you’re the front-line starter, this is exactly what it entails. You have to be durable, reliable, consistent and try to eclipse 200 innings and 30 starts. He’s the right guy to do that and lead the younger rotation this year. He’s going to have a really big year. I wouldn’t dwell on the walks, I would focus on the nine K’s.
Norris would start 30 games in 2013 for Houston, and finish his career with 67 wins and 1,153 strikeouts.
