Cosart Joins Astros Rotation

Jarred Cosart impressed in his spot start last week. But he was sent back to the Oklahoma City team. Now he will try to keep impressing Astros' fans as the Astros No. 5 starter. Cosart will start Tuesday's game against the Oakland A's in front of his hometown fans.

Both Sara Eckert at CSN Houston and J.J. Ortiz at Chronicle.com tweeted that manager Bo Porter announced Cosart's Tuesday start and named him the No. 5 starter. This comes on the heels of Cosart's start last Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, highlighted by Cosart carrying a no hitter into the 7th inning and a shutout into the 9th inning.

The Astros are hoping that this is the beginning of a new era for the team---an era with top prospects called up to become part of the future major league core of the Astros. The next few weeks should be interesting.

Cosart passed his first test with the spot start against the Rays. However, there are many more tests to come. Cosart is a tremendously talented young pitcher, but he has occasional bouts of wildness. Cosart was successful in erasing some of his walks off the base paths against the Rays by inducing subsequent double plays. Undoubtedly Cosart's continued ability to keep batted balls on the ground will be an important factor. One of the main questions is whether he can consistently manage his walks and balls-strikes ratio.

The A's will be a tough challenge, particularly given how the A's offense has dominated the Astros so far this season. Yet the Rays were also a patient team which looked like a bad match up for Cosart---but he succeeded anyway.

What are your thoughts? Looking forward to Tuesday's game? Was this the right decision by the Astros?