{"id":670953,"date":"2026-04-08T21:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/670953\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:22:15","slug":"former-astros-world-series-hero-struggles-once-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/670953\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Astros World Series hero struggles once again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2022, Cristian Javier pitched six no-hit innings in Game 4 of the World Series against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/ca\/mlb\/philadelphia-phillies\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Philadelphia Phillies<\/a>, giving the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/ca\/mlb\/houston-astros\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston Astros<\/a> the momentum they needed to turn the series around and win it all in Game 6. Unfortunately, his career has taken a tragic turn since that heroic appearance, and his first three starts of the 2026 MLB season have been putrid, for a lack of a better term.<\/p>\n<p>Javier has lost his spark in 2026<\/p>\n<p>In his first three starts of the season, Javier has pitched a total of 9.1 innings while giving up 13 earned runs. His control has been nonexistent so far, as he\u2019s also given up nine walks. Javier isn\u2019t getting hitters out via the strikeout either, as he\u2019s only notched three so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And, to make matters worse, he exited his last start against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/ca\/mlb\/colorado-rockies\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colorado Rockies<\/a> after only one inning with shoulder tightness.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Cristian Javier is leaving this game with a trainer before the second inning begins.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chandler_Rome\/status\/2041965766820733112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">April 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Javier hasn\u2019t had the easiest time when it comes to injuries. In 2024, he <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/cristian-javier-injury-tommy-john-surgery#:~:text=Cristian%20Javier%20to%20undergo%20Tommy%20John%20surgery%20(source)\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">underwent Tommy John surgery<\/a>, keeping him out for the rest of that season and the majority of 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since then, his fastball, which was considered one of the best in the league due to its ability to fall at a slower rate than the league average, hasn\u2019t had the same effectiveness. According to\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/cristian-javier-664299?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Baseball Savant<\/a>, hitters batted .500 against his fastball that he\u2019s thrown 70 times so far.<\/p>\n<p>Without having his signature pitch performing at an elite level, Javier has become much easier to hit. Now, his health is once again in limbo, and it\u2019s not impossible that Javier\u2019s time with the Astros may be nearing its end.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More MLB news:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2022, Cristian Javier pitched six no-hit innings in Game 4 of the World Series against the Philadelphia&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,139,54,3211,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-670953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-astros","12":"tag-houstonastros","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116371190389767844","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}