Battle of Locust Grove

Adrian David Houser (born February 2, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Career

Amateur career

Houser attended Locust Grove High School in Locust Grove, Oklahoma. He committed to attend the University of Oklahoma to play college baseball for the Oklahoma Sooners baseball team.[1][2]

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB) selected Houser in the second round, with the 69th overall selection, of the 2011 MLB Draft.[1] Houser signed a contract with Houston three days after he was drafted and was subsequently assigned to the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League (GCL) Astros.[3] After six GCL games in which he went 1–2 with a 4.03 ERA and 25 strikeouts, the Astros organization promoted Houser to the Greeneville Astros of the Appalachian League, their other Rookie ball team.[4] Between the two teams, Houser went 2–4 in his first season of professional baseball, with a 4.31 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 12 games and 48 innings pitched.[5] Houser spent the entire 2012 season with Greeneville as well, going 3–4 in 11 starts with a 4.19 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 58 innings.[5]

Houser spent 2013 with the Tri-City ValleyCats where he pitched to an 0–4 record and a 3.42 ERA in 14 games (nine starts), and 2014 with the Quad Cities River Bandits where he went 5–6 with a 4.14 ERA in 25 games, 17 being starts. He started 2015 with the Lancaster JetHawks and was promoted to the Corpus Christi Hooks.[6]

Milwaukee Brewers

Houser with the Brewers in 2019

On July 30, 2015, the Astros traded Houser, along with Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana and Josh Hader, to the Milwaukee Brewers for Carlos Gómez and Mike Fiers.[7][8] Milwaukee assigned him to the Biloxi Shuckers. In 26 games (20 starts) between Lancaster, Corpus Christi and Biloxi, he compiled a 7–5 record with a 4.43 ERA.

Houser was promoted to Milwaukee for the annual September call-ups. He made his major league debut on September 26, 2015. In 2016, Houser spent all of the season with Biloxi, going 3–7 with a 5.25 ERA in 13 starts.[9] Houser's 2017 season was limited due to injury, and he pitched only 17.2 innings all season. He began 2018 with Biloxi.

Houser was recalled to the Brewers' major league roster on June 17, 2018, and pitched the team's game against the Philadelphia Phillies later that day.[10] He vomited twice on the mound during that game. This would be the first of several occurrences where Houser vomited during a game.[11] On August 11, 2019, in a game against the Texas Rangers, Houser misfielded a ground ball hit at him by Elvis Andrus. Shortly after, Houser walked towards the back of the mound, where he vomited, the second such time Houser had vomited on the mound during a game. After this, he proceeded to notch ten strikeouts and finish the game as the winning pitcher.[12] In 2019 for Milwaukee, Houser appeared in 35 games, pitching to a 6–7 record and a 3.72 ERA with 117 strikeouts in 111.1 innings pitched.[13] In 2020, Houser recorded a 5.30 ERA and 1-6 record with 44 strikeouts in 56.0 innings of work across 12 games.[14]

On April 27, 2021, Houser hit his first major league home run off of Daniel Castano of the Miami Marlins.[15] In a game against the Marlins on May 8, Houser hit his second career home run, also off of Castano. 2021 was a productive year for Houser. He appeared in 28 games and made 26 starts. Houser finished the season with a 3.22 ERA. Houser also tossed his first complete-game shutout against the Cardinals on September 4, 2021. [16] Houser's salary for the 2022 season was decided via the arbitration process; he had asked for $3 million, and received $2.425 million.[17] In 2022 he was 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA, and had the lowest LOB percentage in the majors (60.8%).[18]

On November 18, 2022, Houser signed a one-year, $3.6 million contract with the Brewers, avoiding arbitration. In 2023, Houser appeared in 23 games, most of which were starts, and posted a 8-5 record and 4.12 ERA.

New York Mets

Houser pitching for the Mets in 2024

On December 20, 2023, the Brewers traded Houser and Tyrone Taylor to the New York Mets in exchange for Coleman Crow.[19][20]

Personal life

Houser is married to Megan Houser.[21] Houser is the nephew of James Knott, a pitcher who was selected by the New York Mets in the 11th round of the 1992 MLB Draft. His older brother Michael played college baseball for Northeastern State.[2]

Houser is a member of the Cherokee Nation. He is close friends with fellow Cherokee Nation member and MLB pitcher Ryan Helsley.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Aber, Ryan; Przybylo, Robert (June 7, 2011). "MLB Draft notebook: Houston Astros select Locust Grove's Adrian Houser". The Oklahoman. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Hamby, Stephan (August 7, 2010). "Houser commits". Tahlequah Daily Press. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  3. ^ Johnson, Ben (June 12, 2011). "Houser signs with Astros". Tahlequah Daily Press. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  4. ^ "Astros promote Houser to Appalachian League". Tahlequah Daily Press. July 29, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Adrian Houser Minor & Fall Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  6. ^ Former Locust Grove pitcher Adrian Houser headed to AA[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "Brewers trade Carlos Gomez, Mike Fiers to Astros for prospects". Sports Illustrated. July 30, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  8. ^ McTaggart, Brian (July 30, 2015). "Astros add Gomez, Fiers from Brewers". MLB.com. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  9. ^ "Adrian Houser Stats, Highlights, Bio - MiLB.com Stats - The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  10. ^ "Brewers P Houser vomits twice, finishes inning". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  11. ^ "Called up to Crew, Houser gets sick on hill". mlb.com. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  12. ^ "Brewers' Adrian Houser pukes on field (again), proceeds to hurl 10-strikeout gem". CBSSports.com. August 11, 2019.
  13. ^ "Milwaukee Brewers: Adrian Houser 2019 Season Report Card". October 9, 2019.
  14. ^ "Brewers: Is Adrian Houser a Breakout Candidate in 2021?". December 23, 2020.
  15. ^ Hoehn, Jim (April 27, 2021). "Houser hits 1st HR, pitches Brewers past Marlins 5-4". Associated Press. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  16. ^ Wine, Steven (May 8, 2021). "Adrian Houser homers, fans 10, as Brewers stop 6-game skid". Kenosha News.
  17. ^ "Miami Marlins' Pablo López, Milwaukee Brewers' Adrian Houser lose arbitration cases". ESPN. Associated Press. May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  18. ^ "Splits Leaderboards | FanGraphs". www.Fangraphs.com.
  19. ^ "Mets get Adrian Houser, Tyrone Taylor in trade with Brewers". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  20. ^ McCalvy, Adam (December 20, 2023). "Crew deals Houser, Taylor to Mets for pitching prospect". MLB.com. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  21. ^ "adrianhouser12". Instagram. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  22. ^ Rowley, D. Sean (July 31, 2021). "Cherokee Nation boasts 4 MLB players". Cherokee Phoenix. Retrieved September 5, 2021.

External links