When you think of the Houston Astros’ pitching staff, you think of Roy Oswalt. Not only is Oswalt the ace of the pitching staff, he’s one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. Since being called up to the big leagues in 2001, Oswalt has simply been dominant.

Oswalt was born in Weir, Mississippi, a town with a population of less than a thousand residents, and played various sports growing up. In his senior year of high school, he played wide receiver and defensive back for his state champion high school football team.

After graduating high school in a class of 32 students, Oswalt went on to pitch for Holmes Community College in Mississippi. He was drafted by the Astros after his freshman season but decided to return to school. Drafted again by the Astros after his sophomore season, Oswalt this time opted to sign with Houston.

His minor league career started shortly after signing with the Astros in 1997. After numerous stops in the minor leagues, he landed on the Astros roster in 2001. Once in Houston, Oswalt has been amazing.

In his first seven seasons in the big leagues, Oswalt has a 3.07 ERA with 112 win and 54 losses. He also has 1170 strikeouts compared to only 323. He won 20 games in both 2004 and 2005, while sporting an ERA under 3.00 in four of his seven seasons.

In 2007, Oswalt went 14-7 with a 3.14 ERA. Although he is only 30-years-old, Oswalt is quickly climbing the charts as the best pitcher in the history of the Astros. He is currently third in wins in franchise history, while also being sixth in ERA, eighth in strikeouts and first in win-loss percentage.

Oswalt enters the 2008 season as one of the most feared pitchers in the game and a player as indispensable to the Astros as anyone on the team.

Post from: EveryJoe

Roy Oswalt – A Closer Look

Said Wade: “That’s why we felt it was appropriate to let the agents know up front. The right way to handle this was to create a deadline. In order for us to be men of our words, we will stick by the deadline.”

Valverde was acquired in the offseason and is expected to be the closer for the Astros in 2008. Last year for the Arizona Diamondback, Valverde had 47 saves and an ERA of 2.66. Loretta will enter his second season with the Astros this year. Last season, the infielder hit .287 with four homeruns and 41 RBIs.

The arbitration hearing will take place on Feb. 1 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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Astros Head to Arbitration with Valverde and Loretta

The 30-year-old from Detroit, Michigan will enter his third season with the Astros in 2008. During the 2007 campaign, Borkowski had five wins, three losses and a save while posting a 5.15 ERA. In 2006, he had three wins, two losses and a 4.69 ERA.

The Astros still have two arbitration-eligible players in pitcher Jose Valverde and infielder Mark Loretta.

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Astros Sign Dave Borkowski

Wigginton is expected to be the team’s starting third baseman this season. Acquired from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays during the middle of last season, Wigginton played 50 games for the Astros and hit .284 with six homeruns and 18 RBIs.

Geary was acquired earlier in the offseason from the Philadelphia Phillies. Geary is a right-handed relief pitcher who had a 4.41 ERA last season and has a career ERA of 3.94 to go along with 13 wins, four losses and a save.

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Houston Astros Sign Wigginton and Geary

In other new, the Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Astros and free-agent right-handed pitcher Runelvys Hernandez are close to coming to an agreement on a contract. The 29-year-old Hernandez has played all of his big league games for the Kansas City Royals, where he totaled 25 wins over the course of four seasons.

Both Backe and Hernandez would compete for a spot in Houston’s starting rotation.

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Houston Astros Add Pitching

Towles has a chance be opening day starting catcher for the Astros in 2008. While Towles doesn’t have much big league experience, he did impress last season in the 14 games he played for Houston. During that time, he hit .375 and had one homerun and 12 RBIs.

The 6-foot-2 Towles will be 24-years-old on opening day. Brad Ausmus, who has spent nine of his 16 seasons as a catcher for the Astros, will also return to the team for a tenth season.

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Astros Catcher J.R. Towles

Coming off of a disappointing 73-89 campaign in 2007, the Astros and new general manager Ed Wade decided to shake things up. While the legendary Craig Biggio decided to hang up his cleats following the 2007 season, many other players were brought on board to hopefully get Houston back to the playoffs.

Miguel Tejada
Tejada is a slugging shortstop who won the AL MVP in 2002. Acquired from the Baltimore Orioles, Tejada is a player who will play everyday and provide the Astros with some power in the middle of their lineup.

Jose Valverde
With the Arizona Diamondbacks, Valverde led the major leagues in saves last season with 47. The Astros acquired him to serve as the team’s new closer. Valverde, who was an All-Star in 2007, will be a huge upgrade for the Astros in 2008.

Kazuo Matsui
The Astros wanted to add some speed to their lineup. To do so, Matsui was brought in to play second base. Matsui had a breakout season last year for the Colorado Rockies and signed with the Astros as a free agent.

Michael Bourn
Another speedster, Bourn was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies and is slated to become the team’s centerfielder in 2008. The 25-year-old Bourn doesn’t have much big league experience but has already shown the ability to steal bases.

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Astros Offseason Upgrades