Astros reflect on Cosart's solid rookie season

CLEVELAND -- It was a bang-up debut for Jarred Cosart, the rookie right-hander who made 10 starts for the Astros this year and went 1-1 with a 1.95 ERA. The Astros shut him down following his Sept. 9 start at Seattle because of a career-high number of innings.

Astros pitching coach Doug Brocail was, of course, thoroughly impressed with Cosart but knows there is work to be done. He wants Cosart to become more fluid in his delivery and concentrate on moving straight toward the mound and not crossing over.

"He came up and he did well," Brocail said. "He had a knack for when he walks somebody and gets in trouble of getting the ground ball at the right time or getting a double play to get out of it. I'd like to see more strikes, though, and more consistency with the curveball."

Cosart allowed only 46 hits in 60 innings, but he had more walks (35) than strikeouts (33).

"There's a lot of things he could have done to get the guys off of his fastball, and he didn't do it," Brocail said. "He primarily stayed fastball, curveball and that's youth and getting to a different level. He'll be fine."

Since 1901, there have been 100 pitchers to make exactly 10 starts in a debut season, and Cosart's ERA is the second lowest among this group, behind Rube Bressler's 1.77 in 147 2/3 innings in 1914 (Bressler also made 19 relief appearances).