Before he can take the mound, Lance McCullers Jr. observes several rituals, as starting pitchers are wont to do, to preserve order in his world.

In Houston, the Astros' No. 2 starter consumes scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, avocado mash, green salsa, cilantro and blistered tortillas and an order of blueberry pancakes for breakfast at Tiny's No. 5 in West U.

Playing at home or on the road, he attends a matinee movie, follows with a green juice blend, shows up in a light-blue-shirt-and-ripped-white-jeans pairing he deems "swaggy," reads a Bible passage and trots through a turnstile of choreographed high-fives in the dugout.

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Mixed in with the leisure, a more exacting measure fortifies his confidence. Late the night before or early the morning of his start, McCullers must get a haircut. A crisp shear is like a starched uniform - he feels dirty without one. Twice during the last 10-game homestand, he was trimmed to look "fresh," as he put it, before each of his starts.

After going 4-0 with a 0.99 ERA in May, McCullers, 23, is emerging in his third season as a distinguished pitcher with one of baseball's most distinctive hairdos.

Its bulbous shape resembles a porpoise; its short left-to-right swoop on top, which begins at the part, seems inspired by a cockatoo.

"He's proud of having the best hair on the team, and he wants to keep it that way," starting pitcher Joe Musgrove said. "It's part of his presence."

Looks impact performance

Although McCullers does not take himself too seriously, he treats his strands meticulously.

"Ooh beautiful hair," bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte had said when he ran his fingers through McCullers' hair like it was a silken horse tail. "But I never mess it up."

That crowds do not see the crumpled and sweat-sodden hair concealed beneath players' caps does not matter to a well-groomed generation of primped prospects ceaselessly broadcast on social media.

"For me," McCullers said, "it's look good, feel good, play good."

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McCullers' style demands Swiss Army knife versatility. A razor is used to carve - but not too wide, McCullers warns barbers - the part, which begins in the center of his hairline and paves diagonally right to left through thick black hair. The line revealing his scalp fittingly looks like an asteroid blazing across outer space.

The sides of his haircut gradually shorten, then lengthen to blend into a beard that aligns with his earlobes and wraps around his jaw line, leaving his neck hairless. He relays his specifications to barbers like he's bringing a sports car to a mechanic.

"You have to be able to tell them what you want," McCullers said.

He stewed over a hack job he got in Tampa, Fla., before an offseason fan event.

"The barber put a line about the size of a highway in my head, and I was freaking out," he said. "I've never been back to that guy."

He panics when his beard is sheared too far in from his jaw line.

"I'm really upset about that," he said. "One guy messed up my cut, and I had to shave my beard off last year."

Pitching while irked, he struck out nine over seven innings in a 5-2 win over the Oakland Athletics.

McCullers has passed through significant hair phases. Smooth bangs swept across his forehead when in 2010 he emulated then 16-year-old heartthrob Justin Bieber. His long locks that summer attracted a girl, Kara, who would become his wife.

"That was one of the things she liked about me at first glance," McCullers said.

After beginning pro ball in 2012, he entered a barbershop in Kissimmee, Fla., with Carlos Correa, Brett Phillips and Rio Ruiz. He walked out with a faux-hawk that would last two years.

When in 2014 his ERA ballooned past 5 in Class A Lancaster, he sought another barber to shed some baggage. That's when he discovered the undercut, which shears the sides but leaves hair long on the top, and dramatic part.

"I went Great Gatsby style," McCullers said.

That morphed into the modernist machination of today. McCullers avoids explaining how others can replicate his coiffure for themselves and directs them to the sculptor of his surrealist hairstyle. He gives them the phone number for Danny Quiles, the Astros' de facto team barber.

Important to culture

Quiles, 28, grew up in a drug-riddled project in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and watched his mom style hair at her salon for decades. He left the country's financial turmoil with his wife and son for Houston in 2013. A day after landing in Texas, he scored a job cutting hair in Katy. Word spread about a bona fide barber from Puerto Rico, where men traditionally get haircuts every Friday in preparation for the weekend.

"In Puerto Rico, it's very important to cut our hair," Quiles said. "That defines our culture."

Quiles, who reels in broken-English conversations with his enthusiasm and bearhugs with his beefy build, was recommended to former Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Alex Cintron, who settled in Houston after retiring with the Sugar Land Skeeters. In 2014, Cintron passed Quiles along to former Astros first baseman Jesus Guzman, who established Quiles as a convenient amenity for players at Minute Maid Park.

Quiles said he was a promising shortstop in his teens, idolizing Alex Rodriguez, but a bum shoulder ended his pursuit of playing college baseball in the United States. He was thrilled at the chance to ingratiate himself with pro players.

When the Astros did not re-sign Guzman, utility man Marwin Gonzalez made sure to retain Quiles.

"He's an asset," Gonzalez said. "He's really good. Sometimes you're not comfortable with someone because they are not consistent. … The culture of Puerto Rico is known for facial hair. All the singers are known for that. Probably 80 percent of the music that we listen to, the artists are from Puerto Rico."

Quiles sees about 60 clients privately a week, charging $20 for adults and $15 for kids. He declined to say how much the players pay him, but he asks for "whatever they think it's worth."

Quiles sets up in the Astros' family room with a smock, rubber gloves for cleanliness, a barber's kit and Marc Anthony music in the background. He pops into the visitors' clubhouse, too. He zipped through 18 Cincinnati Reds during a series last season.

"Most barbers are slow," Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler said after a snip from Quiles during a May visit. "They like it to be more of a barbershop atmosphere. He knows that we value time."

Quiles takes 20 to 25 minutes and has memorized the preferences for every player, an impressive feat considering the kaleidoscope of cuts that makes the Astros a creatively hirsute club.

McCullers holds the championship belt for his pristine style. Outfielder George Springer enjoys a shaggy mohawk that looks like flames dancing. Musgrove extends his soul patch into a chin strap that resembles an anchor. Second baseman Jose Altuve sports a cowlick and clean-shaven face; Gonzalez maintains a jet-black symmetrical beard and immaculate eyebrows.

Freedom for McCann

Brian McCann, who was prohibited from growing facial hair in three seasons with the New York Yankees, is working with Quiles to fashion a garden gnome-style beard.

"Guys who don't have good faces need beards," McCann said.

Starting pitcher Mike Fiers shaved his head himself for 12 years until he accepted a haircut from Quiles. Fiers likes to shave the sides of his scalp (he calls them "power alleys"), which forms a wide, wispy stripe down the back of his head.

Quiles described Altuve as uninterested in the finer points of grooming.

"I don't like sitting down having somebody cut my hair," Altuve said. "It stresses me out. I want to make it quick and get out of that room."

Quiles had to assuage Gonzalez, who frets that any trims near his pate will expose baldness.

"Brother, you're not going to be bald. Remain calm," Quiles has told him. "What's happening is that he believes that it can fall out, but it's not falling out."

McCullers has the most stylish shape; Yuli Gurriel, so far, has the most recognizable shock of hair.

Quiles prunes Gurriel like a palm tree, with shaved sides and blond-dyed strands pointing up. Gurriel has inspired a wig giveaway at Minute Maid Park and attracted national attention. He received canisters of sculpting foam and hairspray from a company he did not recognize, assuming the products were junk. Bracamonte enlightened him, letting him know Paul Mitchell is a reputable brand.

"People have gone crazy," Gurriel said. "They identify me more with the hair."

Barber makes house calls

Dallas Keuchel, the original hair hero on the roster, understands. Quiles squares Keuchel's beard but, more valuably, drives to Keuchel's apartment for house calls.

"Everybody feeds off each other and has their own little personal expression," Keuchel said of the clubhouse. "Danny helps with it."

He is vital for McCullers, who had forbade Quiles from touching his beard, given the past trauma. Quiles eased into negotiations about the height of the facial hair and transition points of the fade. He admired the quality of McCullers' straight hair, how its dark color contrasted with the light skin.

"Every detail stands out even more," Quiles said.

Quiles proved himself. Now he drives more than an hour round-trip to set up inside a well-lit and mirrored bathroom at McCullers' home. If working at the ballpark, Quiles sees everyone with requests but leaves McCullers for last, which affords Quiles the most time.

Quiles is as much of an institution as a clubhouse employee, but he had a fan moment when the Yankees visited last season. Days before his 41st birthday, Rodriguez needed to get cleaned up.

Quiles snipped him dutifully and afterward snapped a photo with him for Instagram.

"It was almost like a fantasy," Quiles said.

Rodriguez retired two weeks later.

Although the Astros have helped Quiles carve out a life he did not foresee as a kid in the Ponce projects, McCullers credits him for earning his keep.

"You need people to connect you in everything in life," McCullers said. "But ultimately, what you do with that opportunity or how you showcase your work is what gets you where you are."

McCullers sought the Texas Rangers' clubhouse staff before his Saturday start in Arlington for someone who could maintain the edges of his hairline and beard. McCullers did not want him messing with anything else.

Quiles showed that he gives McCullers something more elusive than a sharp haircut. The barber offers his star pitcher client comfort.