Oberholtzer Gets The Call, Keuchel Sent Back to AAA

When your bullpen pitches 8 2/3 innings in a night game with a day game to follow, sometimes you just have to make a move. I think that's what this is seeing as Houston used all 3 of its long relievers in yesterday's blowout, and starter Erik Bedard has yet to pitch more than 4 innings in a game this season. The only relievers Houston didn't use yesterday are Wesley Wright, Hector Ambriz and Jose Veras, and while Wright and Ambriz CAN be extended, that doesn't exactly set the pen up for success moving forward. Enter Oberholtzer, who has made three starts for the RedHawks this season, allowing at least 5 runs in all of them. On the year he's allowed 18 runs (13 earned) in 12 1/3 innings, hardly awe inspiring numbers. That said, the 23 year old lefty pitched pretty well this spring (3.86 ERA in 7 innings) and had a solid showing between AA and AAA in 2012 (10-10, 166 2/3 IP, 137 K, 4.37 ERA). Besides, he's really just here to eat some innings. If Bedard gets shelled or can't go deep into the ballgame, someone's going to have to go out there and make pitches to save the rest of the bullpen. If he does awesome, great! But there really isn't too much pressure on him in this audition. As for Keuchel, it was a numbers game. Someone had to get sent down to make room.

2005-Present:
Year	Team	League	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	GO/AO	AVG
2008	BRA	GCL	4	1	2.89	10	0	0	0	0	37.1	34	16	12	1	10	32	1.47	.241
2008	Minors		4	1	2.89	10	0	0	0	0	37.1	34	16	12	1	10	32	1.47	.241
2009	DAN	APP	6	2	2.01	12	12	1	0	0	67.0	46	17	15	1	6	56	1.29	.191
2009	Minors		6	2	2.01	12	12	1	0	0	67.0	46	17	15	1	6	56	1.29	.191
2010	ROM	SAL	0	2	1.96	4	4	0	0	0	23.0	22	7	5	1	5	19	1.56	.262
2010	MB	CAR	6	6	4.15	22	18	0	0	2	112.2	123	59	52	7	18	107	1.19	.279
2010	Minors		6	8	3.78	26	22	0	0	2	135.2	145	66	57	8	23	126	1.24	.276
2011	MIS	SOU	9	9	3.74	21	21	1	0	0	127.2	119	65	53	6	42	93	0.85	.249
2011	CC	TEX	2	3	5.27	6	6	0	0	0	27.1	28	16	16	3	10	28	1.08	.267
2011	Minors		11	12	4.01	27	27	1	0	0	155.0	147	81	69	9	52	121	0.89	.253
2012	CC	TEX	5	3	4.21	13	13	0	0	0	77.0	81	41	36	11	21	68	1.62	.267
2012	OKC	PCL	5	7	4.52	15	15	0	0	0	89.2	105	48	45	13	19	69	0.94	.292
2012	Minors		10	10	4.37	28	28	0	0	0	166.2	186	89	81	24	40	137	1.20	.281
2013	OKC	PCL	0	2	9.49	3	3	0	0	0	12.1	18	18	13	3	4	6	1.29	.327
2013	Minors		0	2	9.49	3	3	0	0	0	12.1	18	18	13	3	4	6	1.29	.327

Drafted in the 8th round by Atlanta, Oberholtzer is the final piece of the Michael Bourn trade to reach the Majors in an Astros uniform. Two of the others have already moved on (Jordan Schafer and Juan Abreu), but the third, Paul Clemens, is off to a fine start in 2013. A durable innings eater, Oberholtzer pitches in the low 90s with four pitches at his disposal. His command is average, but he lives in the strikes zone and doesn't issue a lot of free passes.