Adrian Houser has been a heck of a find for general manager Chris Getz.
Now it’s time to see what Getz can get for the right-hander.
The Sox’ quest for veteran starting pitching never truly stopped, not with offseason addition Martin Perez going down with a forearm injury in mid-April. On the hunt for innings-eaters to aid their youthful rotation, Getz’s front office snapped up Houser when he opted out of a minor-league deal with the Rangers, and he has turned in one strong performance after another since arriving on the South Side.
His latest gem came in Saturday’s 1-0 victory against the Giants, with Houser tossing seven scoreless innings and only allowing four hits, all singles.
“He’s pretty good, man,” catcher Edgar Quero said after the game. “Every time I’m behind the plate with him is special.”
Quero helped his pitcher stay off the scoreboard, picking off a runner at third after a strikeout for a huge double play in the sixth inning to preserve a scoreless tie. Andrew
Benintendi’s homer off Robbie Ray in the bottom of the sixth put Houser on the winning end of the pitchers’ duel.
Houser now has a razor-thin 1.90 ERA in seven starts since joining the Sox. He has yet to allow more than three runs in a game, and he only has allowed more than one run three times.
He said it rates as one of the finest stretches of his nine-year major-league career, right up there with the success he had pitching for the Brewers in 2021, when he finished the season with a 2.16 ERA in his final 13 starts.
“[I’ve] been comfortable,” Houser said. “The vibe’s been good in here. It’s been awesome. I’ve been trying to keep doing what I’ve been doing since the beginning of the season, doing my work and attacking it that way. . . . It’s been fun to play baseball.
“As far as mechanically and everything that I’ve put into the work I did in the offseason, I’d say I’m definitely in a better spot, feeling a lot better.”
The Sox already have seen Houser chew up innings to help the staff; he has failed to complete six innings in only one of his seven starts.
But that could be just the start of Houser helping out the Sox.
With his numbers, it figures there could be plenty of teams ringing up Getz to ask about the righty as the trade deadline nears. Pitching is always at a premium in the middle of the summer as contenders look to load up ahead of planned postseason runs.
While Houser wasn’t highly sought after to begin the season — hence his previous post in the Rangers’ farm system — he could find himself a deadline commodity and part of a rotation bound for October, should the right suitor come along.
“The stuff has ticked up this year,” manager Will Venable said. “He’s just got that experience and that ability to navigate a lineup. . . . He’s just been outstanding.”
At this point, given center fielder Luis Robert Jr.’s woeful numbers, Houser could end up the player who fetches Getz the most at the deadline.
Don’t expect an earth-shattering return anywhere close to what Getz got for Garrett Crochet, who’s putting up Cy Young numbers for the Red Sox. But the GM could find something to aid his long-term rebuilding project in an unexpected midsummer flip.
That’s not bad for someone who was in Triple-A for another team a 1½ months ago.