A year has made quite a difference for White Sox right-hander Adrian Houser.
Last season was turbulent. Houser was demoted to the bullpen before being designated for assignment by the Mets in July, departing with a 5.84 ERA in 23 appearances.
After signing a minor-league contract with the Cubs, he was released and finished the season with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate, posting a 9.18 ERA in three starts.
Houser often sat alone in hotel rooms, ruminating over his poor performance. He didn’t believe he was near the end of his career, and it gnawed at him that he couldn’t showcase the talent he thought he still had. He didn’t need an overhaul, just a tweak to return to the pitcher who was a reliable midrotation starter for the Brewers for seven seasons.
Searching for answers, Houser remembered his friend Jacob Evans, who worked at PitchingWRX, a data-driven pitching facility in Oklahoma. As an Oklahoma native, he decided to give it a try.
“I needed to change something up and make the commitment,” Houser said.
The facility helped Houser increase his velocity and enjoy success with the Sox. His average fastball has jumped from 93.6 mph last season to 95.0, which has allowed his secondary pitches to play more. The results reflect Houser’s improvements.
He’s 5-2 with a 1.56 ERA in nine starts since signing with the Sox in May, a shrewd move by general manager Chris Getz.
After being undesirable a year ago, Houser has worked his way into potentially being an option for playoff teams looking for pitching at the trade deadline.
In the offseason, Houser threw a bullpen session for Alex Marney, founder and head coach of PitchingWRX, and Lane Ramsey, a co-owner and minor-league pitcher in the Marlins’ organization. It allowed them to analyze how Houser was throwing and what they could do to tap into more of Houser’s athleticism.
For Houser to engage more with his body, Ramsey and Marney had him move his hands further away from his body, which allowed him to balance himself better on the mound.
The next step was for Houser to figure out how to engage his backside more. Houser told Marney and the rest of the PitchingWRX staff that he was getting into his knee more than his glutes. The new hand placement allowed him to use his backside more to maximize velocity.
“He had essentially just become a little bit compressed,” Marney said. “He needed to have a little bit more space to work. I know it sounds simple, but he just needed to feel freedom.”
Marney said the results were immediate. Houser saw his fastball velocity tick up on Day 1.
Houser has thrown at least six innings in six of his seven starts. He’s providing length to a youthful Sox rotation that’s desperate for it. Though Houser is throwing better than he has in his career, Marney thinks there’s more they can adjust to keep sharpening Houser’s arsenal.
“After every outing, one of the things he says is, ‘I still feel like there’s more in my back leg,’ ” Marney said. “And this is after sitting 94 to 95 mph and shoving for seven innings. He’s aware of it. He knows what it feels like.”
Marney and Ramsey believe the reason Houser is seeing positive results is because of his proactive approach in the offseason. In addition to his work with PitchingWRX, Houser started a carnivore diet to trim fat and daily cold tubs to aid in his recovery between outings.
“It really comes down to the athlete taking ownership of his career, and Adrian does that extremely well,” Ramsey said. “There’s still more in there that can make him more effective.”
Houser probably can’t maintain a 1.56 ERA — his FIP is 3.12, and his strikeout rate is in the 16th percentile (17.3%). But his offseason work helped him to return to being a dependable innings eater.
“[This offseason] was about how we could make small adjustments and let Adrian be Adrian, which we’re seeing right now,” Ramsey said.