Cristian Javier Stats
- Height / Weight
- 6' 1" / 210 lbs.
- Date of Birth (Age)
- 3/26/1997 (27)
- Experience
- 4
- College
- None
Cristian Javier Season Stats
Last 10 Games
Cristian Javier News
Houston Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier was superb during Wednesday's 8-0 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays, tossing five innings of one-hit ball with three strikeouts to record his first win of the season. Javier walked five in this one, but the free passes didn't come back to haunt him in this scoreless outing. With the effort, the 27-year-old Dominican right-hander now boasts 11 shutout frames with nine punchouts through his initial two appearances of 2024. Javier gets the Kansas City Royals and ace left-hander Cole Ragans next Tuesday for the start of a three-game series, and a pitching duel could be in store for that one. Despite being winless with a 7.20 ERA in two appearances against the Royals since 2022, Javier will still be a strong fantasy play on the road.
Houston Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier yielded his worst start of the spring in Monday's 10-1 Grapefruit League loss to the Nationals. Javier pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on three hits (including a solo home run) and four walks with one strikeout. The 26-year-old is coming off of a surprisingly poor 2023 season and now has a 4.30 ERA with a 1.02 WHIP and 14 strikeouts in 14 2/3 IP this spring. He is still a bounce-back fantasy candidate given his career track record, but hopefully, he can turn in a few more positive outings heading into the regular season.
Houston Astros right-hander Cristian Javier has reportedly lost 15 pounds in the offseason as he acknowledged some of his struggles in the 2023 season could be related to some extra weight he was carrying around. A steady force from 2020-2022, the right-hander indeed took a step back in the 2023 season as he put forth a 4.56 ERA across 31 starts, a far cry from the 2.54 ERA he tossed across 30 outings (25 starts) in the 2022 campaign. More so, Javier saw his strikeout rate drop from 33.2% in the 2022 season all the way to 23.1% a season ago. His presence is key for an Astros team that has Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia sidelined until the second half of the season while his fantasy value is questionable after a significant dip in 2023.
Batting Order
1 | Jose Altuve |
2 | Yordan Alvarez |
3 | Alex Bregman |
4 | Kyle Tucker |
5 | Yainer Diaz |
6 | Jeremy Peña |
7 | Chas McCormick |
8 | José Abreu |
9 | Mauricio Dubón |
Cristian Javier Stats
Last 10 Games
Batting Order
1 | Jose Altuve |
2 | Yordan Alvarez |
3 | Alex Bregman |
4 | Kyle Tucker |
5 | Yainer Diaz |
6 | Jeremy Peña |
7 | Chas McCormick |
8 | José Abreu |
9 | Mauricio Dubón |
Javier transformed from a swingman into a bona fide frontline starter in 2022, posting a 2.54 ERA in 148.2 innings for Houston. The peripherals supported his performance as well, with Javier boasting a 2.43 xERA, 3.16 FIP, and monster 11.74 K/9 that season. He was considered a top-20 starter coming into 2023, but regressed in every sense of the word. His ERA jumped two runs to 4.56, his 4.58 FIP suggests he earned the spike, and his strikeout rate cratered to 8.83 K/9. Primarily a two-pitch pitcher, Javier enjoyed unsustainable performances with slider and fastball in 2022. He had a .234 BABIP with his fastball and a .195 BABIP with his slider in 2022, but a .258 BABIP on the fastball and .267 BABIP on the slider last season. It wasn't just regression to the mean that caused this either, as Javier lost an inch of break and a an inch of drop on his slider in 2023. While Javier had a 16.9% swinging strike rate and 28.6% chase rate with his slider in 2022, he had just a 10.2% swinging strike rate and 21.5% chase rate in 2023, pitiful by comparison. One can't expect another 33.2% strikeout rate season with metrics like that, and the underlying metrics did not support the 2022 strikeout rate that season. Javier not only lost something on his slider, but his fastball velocity dipped from 93.8 MPH to 92.7 MPH in 2023. While he can likely perform better than a 4.56 ERA, 2022 seems like the outlier season and one should expect an ERA in the 3.50-4 range with a below average strikeout rate.