You’ll never believe how good this former NY Mets player is doing with his new team

It didn’t take too long for the New York Mets to realize what they had with Adrian Houser last year. A fifth starter profile, it took only a few revolutions around the rotation for them to toss him into the bullpen where he was a useful long man but not exactly a piece to tow around for the full season. Houser finished at 1-5 with a 5.84 ERA with the Mets in those 7 starts and another 16 relief appearances.

Houser never did get back to the majors in 2024, but has been reveling in the show this year. Through the same number of starts he had with the Mets, Houser has been extremely better. Unfortunately, it’s coming as a member of the Chicago White Sox with nothing to play for.

You’d never believe just how good Adrian Houser has been if you didn’t already see it up close

Houser’s second start of the season actually took place against the Mets in late May when he tossed 6 shutout frames. It was his second straight outing of doing the same. It seemed inevitable that reality would set in and he’d tank.

Not so fast. Houser has remained reliable and dependable. All but one start, a 5 inning performance with 3 earned runs allowed, has been considered “quality.” He has gone 6+ innings in the other 6 starts this season, completely decimating all expectations. With nothing to lose, Houser is delivering the goods despite a lack of run support to go with it. His game against the Mets was a 2-1 loss for the White Sox. In his 7 starts, the team is 4-3 but has yet to score more than 4 runs, an accomplishment achieved twice.

Houser boldly held things together in his most recent outing on June 28 when 7 shutout innings was what it took to defeat the San Francisco Giants 1-0.

Somewhat stunningly, Houser is achieving this with an inferior hard-hit percentage and smaller groundball rate than he had with the Mets last season. It’s not drastic, 43.2% vs. 40.4% for hard-hit percentage and 46.8% vs. 47.8% for ground balls. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see such drastically different results. The conclusion might be a little easier than examining numbers like those. He’s not giving up home runs, striking out a higher percentage of batters, and has reduced his walk totals.

Don’t sell the farm in your fantasy baseball league to add Houser. He’s getting unbelievable results right now that the continually warming summer weather should eventually have a greater say in.