Brad Peacock wasn’t a homegrown Houston Astro, but he got there as fast as he could. He was drafted out of Palm Beach (FL) Community College by the Washington Nationals in the 41st round of the 2006 MLB Draft. That made him overall pick #1,231. If that didn’t make him Mr. Irrelevant, it certainly made him Mr. Indifference.

Peacock is now one of the many surprising pieces of the 2017 Astros, who have won 10 more games than the Boston Red Sox, their nearest American League competitor. In a season when rotation kingpins Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers, and Collin McHugh have spent anywhere from some time, to much time on the disabled list, the right-handed Peacock has come up huge for the 63-32 Houston nine.

Related: Keuchel and McHugh Go Back-to-Back in Rehab Starts for AA Corpus Christi

To hear Rotoworld tell it: “Peacock wasn’t very good in March and it wouldn’t have been a big surprise to see the Astros put him on waivers, since he was out of options. Fortunately, they didn’t go that route, and he’s turned out to be an absolute stud, amassing a 1.10 ERA in 12 relief appearances, and now a 2.49 ERA (8-1 record) in 10 starts. He’s fanned 93 batters in 68 2/3.”

He had his best control of the season, Tuesday, July 18, as he struck out nine and walked one batter through seven innings of three-hit ball in Houston’s 6-2 win over Seattle.

The 6’1″, 210-pounder is 5-0 with a 1.82 ERA in his last five starts, and he’s got a 12.2 strikeout per nine innings rate this year. Were it not for coming up short in league minimum innings, his numbers would be Cy Young Award worthy. This is production that has come from out of left field, regardless of the location of the Minute Maid Park bullpen.

After all, this is the pitcher who posted a 4.86 ERA and 4.98 FIP from 2013-16 when he was on the Astros 25-man roster. What on earth would make a team keep a pitcher who’d been so inordinately ordinary for so long? And, what would make this same pitcher hang in there, thinking he could pull it all together at some point…any point?

How Peacock Mustered His Relish…

Doing the minor league shuffle for the Washington organization for four years finally led to his MLB debut in September of 2011. His 12-inning cup of coffee for the Nats wasn’t much to go on, but it was a start: two out of three games started, yielding 7 hits and 6 walks, while striking out 4, but earning a 2-0 record.

Two days before Christmas of 2011, Peacock was one of a six-player deal that landed him across the country in Oakland. Spending all of 2012 at the A’s AAA club, the Peacock Predicament began to take shape: Starting 25 of his 28 game appearances (134.2 IP), Peacock gathered a doable 12-9 record, but somehow hobbled to a 6.01 ERA, with over twice as many strikeouts as walks (139-66).

Houston GM Jeff Luhnow had been with the team just over a year (and suffered a league-giggling 55-107 2012 season) when he swung the deal, in February 2013, that brought the just-turned 25-year-old nondescript hurler to Houston with slugger Chris Carter (currently struggling to stay in baseball) and Max Stassi, the serviceable catcher treading water at Houston’s AAA Fresno club. In return, Luhnow sent Oakland SS Jed Lowrie and RHP Fernando Rodriguez. The former had just finished his first of two Houston stints (and is now rumored to rejoin the Red Sox in a trade); the latter was recently Cubs property, and was released July 17.

Peacock spent a large part of 2013 as a starter at Houston’s then-AAA Oklahoma City affiliate, turning in a sparkling 6-2 record and 2.73 ERA. Even more impressively, his K total (76) was more than three times his walk total (22). Luhnow looked like a genius. Peacock was able to avoid contact to the point where he gave up only 65 hits in his 79 innings.

This, of course, led to his promotion to The Show. Mostly a starter (14 starts in 18 appearances), Peacock gave up only 78 hits in his 83.1 innings. He walked 37 and struck out 77, but still managed a 5.18 ERA, and a losing 5-6 record, to match the team’s pitiable 51-111 record in 2013.

2014 found Peacock a full-fledged anchor in the Astros’ starting rotation, as he threw 131.2 innings, with 24 starts in 28 appearances. Again languishing on a struggling team, he turned in a lackluster 4-9 record and a 4.72 ERA. He put too many hitters on base, giving up 136 hits and 70 walks, while striking out well below one an inning: 119.

Brad’s 2015 had “disabled list” written all over it, and the “What do we do with Brad Peacock?” conundrum began picking up steam in the halls of Astro central. Peacock was sidelined, that year, by right hip surgery, a left intercostal strain, and doubts about whether he’d pitch again, much less ever effectively. His total inning output in ’15 was a rehab-studded 11.2, spanning from AA to AAA, and one 5-inning Houston start in which he gave up 3 runs.

…And the Catch-Up

Last season brought Peacock his first complete game in five years, as he spent virtually the entire year at Triple-A Fresno, giving up 122 hits in 117 innings, and looking ready for prime-time, he walked only 40, while striking out 119, or roughly three times as many Ks as walks. His 9.15 K/9 was his highest rate since four years before (9.29) while pitching for Oakland’s Triple-A team, in just over a dozen more IP for them. Improvement, too, was evident, as his BAA for Fresno in 2016 was .265, .07 points better than his .272 for Oakland’s Sacramento affiliate in 2012.

One big difference for Peacock in 2017 is his desertion of his windup. He now pitches solely from the stretch, from first pitch on, even when no one is on base.

“At the beginning of the year I just didn’t feel comfortable out of the windup, so I just banged it,” he said. “I’m going to keep going out of the stretch. I feel good out of there, and I feel strong.”

His slider has become more effective, too, this season. At one point in early June, his slider was responsible for no home runs, when, in ’16, it led to a total of 5 home runs for the season. From early June numbers, Peacock had thrown his slider 182 times this season Last season, he threw it a total of 186 times, yet the pitch has generated 23 more whiffs this year.

Another key for this year’s model Peacock is that so much of his success comes down to an adjusted arm slot. Before his injury-filled 2015, Peacock threw mostly over the top. Now Peacock has lowered his arm angle to a virtually full three-quarters release point. This one adjustment has had a marked effect on his entire repertoire, and how his pitches are being hit (or not hit!). This allows him to control his slider with strikingly pinpoint control. This Baseball Savant heatmap illustrates the difference in that control, and the effectiveness of his new arm angle:

FanGraphs’s Jeff Sullivan offered this analysis: “You see the shift you want to see: down, and more glove-side. That’s where righty sliders are supposed to go. Peacock’s average slider has dropped an additional 2.9 inches, compared to last season. It’s also moved over an extra inch. The result is that Peacock’s slider has become something nearly unhittable.”

Seattle’s James Paxton is a recent pitcher who’s found increased success after dropping his arm angle. In fact, Paxton tamed the Astros, 4-1, July 19, allowing Houston just six hits and one run, while striking out 7 in seven innings. Peacock’s results appear similar, as he asserts that he just feels more comfortable around three-quarters.

“Rotation, bullpen, when we hand the ball to Peacock, he’s been exceptional — almost the year in its entirety,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said after his July 18 win over the Mariners. “There’s been one or two outings where he’s lost his command and control a little bit, but man, he’s been good when he’s been able to be in the strike zone and have the type of fastball command he had tonight.”

Describing his attack that night, Peacock explained, “I definitely had the best command I had tonight all year,” he said. “I felt good all around, controlling the slider, dropping a curveball in, and working off my fastball.”

Ring in the New(born) Year

Few players on the current Astros roster have been with the team from the days of 100+ losses. Brad Peacock will have extra reasons to celebrate should Houston do what’s expected of them with such a monumental division lead at this point in the season. A World Series ring would have an extra-special meaning to a pitcher who has stuck it out for several years, found what clicked, and is finally reaping the rewards.

As are the Astros.

Brad’s already celebrating, as the late-June birth of his son, Colton, has started the party early at the Peacock ranch. In fact, not to be outdone by Dad, the kid was already signing memorabilia in the hospital the week of his birth, as a baseball baring his inked footprint was seen in the hospital crib with him!

Related: Dallas Keuchel Makes Class A Rehab Start Against Boston’s 2017 #1 Draft Pick