Ethan Pecko allows five runs in no-decision

Pecko gave up five hits, walked one and struck out two. He pitched well, but was pulled in the middle of the fifth inning with 81 pitches thrown. Pecko hasn’t thrown more than 89 pitches in any of his four starts. He has a 5.19 ERA. Pecko is lined up to face the Rays on the road next weekend, though he remains off the radar for fantasy managers.

It’s Pecko’s first MLB win. The right-hander allowed a pair of homers, but just one other hit in the contest, and he struck out four against two walks. It’s easily the best outing of Pecko’s career, but it’s still hard to justify him as a fantasy option at this stage. He’ll try and build on this effort against the Diamondbacks.

All things considered, Pecko showed tremendous mettle in his debut despite working very hard in it. Practically nothing came easy as he was pulled with 89 pitches before getting through four innings – 58 of which came in the second and fourth – but had his swing-and-miss stuff working. His sinker bailed him out on numerous occasions as a true bat-missing pitch running in on the hands of right-handed batters. He also showed off the depth of his repertoire by forcing a whiff with five different pitches. Still, bear in mind that he only threw 31% of his pitches in the strike and really relied on those whiffs. He’s currently scheduled for a two-start week coming up against both the Yankees and Mets on the road.

The 23-year-old Pecko will start against the Angels in his major league debut tonight. He had a 4.94 ERA and a 71/28 K/BB in 74 2/3 innings for Sugar Land.

It’s hard to imagine a better matchup out of the gate than this, but Pecko represents a risky streaming option for fantasy managers. The 23-year-old fast-rising pitching prospect has posted a respectable 4.57 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 86/28 K/BB ratio across 82 2/3 innings in the minors this season. He’s managed to hold his own in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League at the Triple-A level. There’s enough strikeout upside that he’s worth monitoring in deeper mixed leagues.

The Astros had Ethan Pecko scratched from his Triple-A start in case they wanted to bring him up, but it looks like the plan now is to stick with Javier, assuming he’s not needed in relief tonight. Javier gave up four runs in five innings against the Padres in his last start.

Pecko is the team’s 10th-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. The 22-year-old features a high-90s fastball with a flat attack angle as his best pitch. He pairs that with a cutter and a sweeper, in addition to a curve and changeup for a deep pitch mix. He posted a 4.40 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 45/15 K/BB ratio in 43 innings at Double-A this season.