Extending the $17.8 million qualifying offer by the Houston Astros to ace pitcher Gerrit Cole understandably grabbed most of the headlines November 4. But, it was the quiet addition of left-handed pitching prospect Kent Emanuel to the team’s 40-man roster that says as much about the team’s recent past as it does its more distant future.

The 29-year-old Cole, of course, will decline the Astros’ QO; he’s after twice that annual salary amount on a long-term free agent contract.

If Cole ends up signing with another team before the 2020 MLB Draft (he will), the Astros would then receive a compensatory pick in June. The team’s owner, Jim Crane, made a diplomatically appropriate pronouncement that the Astros will “take a run at” Cole’s services.

But that run will be more like a crippled crawl, considering the loaded wallets that will be thrown in the Cy Young candidate’s direction by other teams and the pressing needs the Astros should address. Let other teams grapple for the right to tie up one-sixth of their payroll on one player, however great he may be; Houston will be sitting on a projected $208 million payroll next season.

The Sudden Surprising Value of Emanuel

The Astros dared to go into the 2019 postseason with nary a left-handed pitcher on any of the three playoff rosters (ALDS, ALCS, World Series). Whether that had any bearing on the outcome of any game is unknowable, but a flexibility fiend like manager AJ Hinch would have loved the opportunity to employ a bullpen lefty from time to time.

This, despite the data-driven assertion by the skipper heading into the postseason that their many right-handers were more than capable of getting left-handed bats out.

While the development of fellow lefties Framber Valdez and Cionel Perez as bullpen pieces will continue apace, they’ll now be joined by Emanuel in an attempt to avoid having the team be completely bereft of southpaw arms for the 2020 pennant race and beyond. Add to that any free agent left-hander the team may end up signing.

The addition of Emanuel to Houston’s 40-man roster brought the total player number to 34, after removing the team’s eight free agents, including Cole and the spiraling downward lefty Wade Miley. It also prevents the 2013 draft pick from becoming a minor league free agent.

The Unicorn in Houston’s System

Twirling a 3.90 ERA in 101.2 innings with Houston’s AAA Round Rock Express last season, Emanuel is one of only a few sinkerballers in the Astros’ organization. He improved markedly in 2019 after he completely scrapped his four-seam fastball, as unheard-of and heinous an act in Houston’s system as it is in all of baseball.

Born in 1992 in Des Plaines, Illinois and raised in Woodstock, Georgia, Kent Jeffrey Emanuel attended Woodstock High about a decade after Atlanta Braves outfielder Nick Markakis.

Emanuel earned all-county, all-region, and all-state selections as a senior for the Wolverines, as he helped lead his team to state playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time in school history.

Following in his mother’s high school steps, the 6’4″, 188-pounder was also a standout basketball player and was a three-year member of the honor roll.

Chosen in the 19th round of the 2010 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Emanuel didn’t sign and opted to attend the University of North Carolina, going for a degree in Kinesiology.

As a Tar Heel junior, Emanuel turned in an 11-5 record, starting 18-of-21 games for a 3.14 ERA in 131.2 IP. Striking out 98, he walked only 32, while beefing up to 225 pounds.

Astros Come Calling

The Astros made Emanuel the 74th overall pick in the third round of the 2013 MLB draft, signing him for just under $748,000.

Emanuel spent parts of three seasons (2015-2017) on Houston’s Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. In 170.2 combined innings, he pitched to a 4.82 ERA, starting 29 of 37 games, as he compiled three times as many strikeouts as walks (126/42).

A 2017 highlight was coming out of the Corpus bullpen to pitch 5.1 scoreless innings, striking out seven while earning the victory. Emanuel threw 69 pitches, 48 for strikes.

Having trimmed down to 212 pounds, Emanuel’s transition to more bullpen work began in the Pacific Coast League. In 2018, Emanuel pitched the entire year at Triple-A Fresno and set a career-best mark in strikeouts per nine innings, posting a 9.25 mark (86 Ks in 83.2 IP). Prior to that year, he had never eclipsed a K/9 ratio above 8.

“On a Roll, Zoning Out”

In parts of his three seasons (2017-2019) for AAA Fresno and Round Rock, Emanuel relieved in 43 of 68 games and logged a 5.23 ERA in 226 innings, with a 2.83 K/BB ratio.

A 2019 Round Rock highlight occurred in late summer when he pitched eight scoreless innings in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers’ AAA San Antonio Missions affiliate. He gave up just one hit.

“Honestly, when you are on a roll like that, you kind of zone out and aren’t really thinking too much,” Emanuel told MiLB.com after the game. “That’s when you know things are going good when you can stop thinking and just have a good feel, and know exactly what to do. I was able to stay in the zone, attack, and get some outs.”

“…A Huge Difference”

In recounting his plan during that 102-pitch game, Emanuel acknowledged that locating the ball “east and west on the plate” has always been his strength.

But, with his recent move from a focus on the rising four-seamer to the sinker, Emanuel said a big key this past season has, understandably, been the vertical location of his pitches:

“Just moving lower in the zone; that’s something I have struggled with over my career,” he revealed. “I’ve kind of made the extra step to move from the middle third, height-wise, to the bottom third. That has made a huge difference.”

Emanuel attended his first Astros Spring Training in 2019 and he’ll be at the West Palm Beach facility this spring, as well, no doubt powwowing with Astros pitching maestro Brent Strom on how to coax more grounders from that stinker of a sinker.