Before I get too carried away, Feliz did come into the game Monday and was not able to hold on to the lead.
Starting off the seventh inning he allowed back to back singles - one a super weak bouncer through the hole - putting runners on the corners. With no outs, Rougned Odor (of course) drove in a run with a deep sac fly. Feliz would recover and get back to back strikeouts to end the inning and his night, but not before the game getting tied up.
He finished his night tossing 1.2 innings, allowing two hits, a run and struck out two.
A couple of things off the bat before I get to my main point. Feliz was bound to give up a run or two at some point. He is great and amazing but as cliche as it sounds, it's baseball, a run will come across the plate sooner or later, it's not like he's Will Harris. Plus it's the Rangers if any team is bound to get score a run off of you, it's them, no one is safe. Anything and everything will happen when the Astros face the Rangers.
So now that we explained away Feliz not being able to hold the game by allowing a run. Let's revisit the Astros are wasting him, portion of this story.
Feliz is electric and if he doesn't have the best stuff on the team he certainly has the second best. So far this season he's striking out guys at a crazy high rate, 13.32 per nine innings, good enough to make him one of the most dangerous relievers in the major leagues.
Feliz rocks a great fastball, his changeup is improving a lot and his slider induces a lot of swings and misses or if someone does manage to make contact he gets weak hits off of it.
In his current role with the Astros, whenever a starter can't make it five/six/seven innings he's normally the first guy out of the pen. Of late he is entering in more games when the team has a lead so he is able to get the hold. His other role is getting the ball in extra innings and he's able to give the Astros a few innings because he can go long. That's pretty much it for the young right-handed flamethrower. So you have this amazing arm, who's blowing people away and he's a factor in the bullpen, but he's not the biggest factor back there...
So if he's not a big player out of the pen, he was a starter in the minor leagues, he's conditioned to go plenty of innings. Feliz could help the Astros as a starter if asked, Mike Fiers who's has been hit and miss this year and would be a prime candidate to get swapped. Let's be honest, Dallas Keuchel has not looked very hot this year, I'm not saying move him to the bullpen, I'm saying maybe he needs some time off. There are roles to be hand in the starting rotation if the Astros were so inclined.
But if you don't want to start Feliz because you think batters would start to figure him out after a second or third time seeing him. Ok, I'll buy that, but I'd still rather seem him get a chance, you can't grow if you aren't given a chance.
If you are afraid and you want to keep him in the bullpen, fine. But there is almost no reason you can't have him closing games. Asking him to get three outs, would be almost too easy, like a slicing butter with a hot knife. Who's going to stop him, he's tossing a 96-98 mph fastball and then has an 87 mph slider that dips out of the strike zone, you'd get saves for days.
Feliz ever since re-joining the Astros after getting sent down to the minors has come back to light the world on fire. Last season and the early part of this year before getting sent down, Feliz was a different pitcher, but since coming back he found his fastball life, and he's been dominate.
In April: 5.1 innings, 10 runs, 3 home runs, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
In May/June: 21.1 innings, 2 runs, 0 home runs, 2 walks, 33 strikeouts
Feliz is a different man since he's cut loose, and the Astros haven't really capitalized on him. For a while maybe they weren't sure if he would revert back to his old self, but 21 innings of top notch work is nothing to sneeze at.
The Astros going forward look like they are going to go closer by committee, and if you want Harris to continue closing games I won't argue with you. He's earned a shot, Harris has been one of the most consistent bullpen arms in baseball since last year. Ken Giles might also get a shot at the job every so often depending on matchups and I think that would be wrong. He's been better since his awful April, but he's still not in the same solar system that Feliz is in.
Feliz has earned the shot at having a bigger impact on games, he's proved he can be very effective out of the pen. In the minors, he proved he can be effective as a starter becoming one of the Astros top prospects after being signed as a 16-year-old amateur free agent from the Dominican Republic.
Right now there are a lot more uses you can use Feliz in he's your swiss army knife. He's better than just giving you a sixth/seventh inning here or there or pitching in extra innings.
I understand the middle relief and extra inning roles are very important and if you don't have him doing it someone is going to have too. The bigger point is he can have a higher impact than just "holding" the game.
He can win it for you by starting a game and going five-six-seven innings giving you good pitching. Or he can pitch in the ninth and help you save games.
It's clear he's handled his current role on the Astros. It's time they start taking the leash off of him and trusting him more and in bigger spots. If it's starting great, if it's saving games even better, if it's the eighth inning ok fine (at least it's about as high leverage as you can get).
He's better than what he's been given so far, let him go out and prove it.
