All three of the pitchers the Astros acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in the Billy Wagner trade in 2003 are in the starting rotation at Class AAA Round Rock. But you may be surprised at who's pitching the best. Righthander Taylor Buchholz, who came over from the Phillies with teammates Brandon Duckworth and Ezequiel Astacio, ran his record to 6-0 in Round Rock's 3-1 victory over Omaha on Sunday. He held the Royals to one run and four hits and struck out five in six innings. The Astros are pleased with Buchholz's progress since he underwent offseason surgery on his right biceps and labrum after spending much of last year on the disabled list. He had surgery in November and didn't return to throwing until spring training. "Initially, he had some soreness he had to work through," Astros assistant general manager Ricky Bennett said. "We backed him off a little bit. He missed one or two starts, but since then is progressing better. We've been pleased." Buchholz, 23, has not lost a game since June 18 of last year and has an ERA of 2.25 in his past four starts. "We're pretty happy with his progress," Bennett said. "His velocity is coming back. He's been 89 to 92 (mph), which is good. He's starting to command his fastball on both sides of the plate, which is good. "He's over the initial tentativeness that you usually go through coming back from surgery, and he's letting the ball go." Considering he's only seven months removed from surgery and still relatively young, Buchholz likely won't be ready to help the Astros this year. "There's still more improvement and arm strength and velocity in there," Bennett said. "Over time we'll start to see it. Ideally we'd like to give him a full season in Triple-A and not put a lot of pressure on him to compete at the major-league level. "But if he continues to do what he's been doing, it's something we'd have to talk about as we get into August and September. I wouldn't rule it out." 大概是說Buchholz越投越好,最近四場比賽自責分率是2.25 球速應該恢復到89~92mph間,控球也開始能投在本壘板兩側 不過因為從開刀到現在只有七個月,所以太空人目前傾向讓 他待在3A投完一個完整球季,不過如果之後他能一直維持現 在的好成績,不排除在八月或九月把他叫上去. --

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