WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Sometime after watching Game 7 of the World Series fall apart from the bullpen, Chris Devenski returned home to California, found a mirror and came to a realization.

The Astros had played in five postseason series since Devenski’s All-Star season in 2017. He was included on one roster — the 2019 World Series. His feared form was gone and his career was approaching a crossroads. Two dreadful seasons sent him to the back of the bullpen hierarchy.

“This game is not easy. Those guys you face every day, they get paid for going out there and trying to hit you,” Devenski said. “I’m not going to sit there and just lay down and let guys do that. I have to make my adjustments, learn, get better and be on top of my game.”

Players often arrive at spring training touting they’re in “the best shape of my life.” Some seem facetious, trying to trot out a long-used line in the sport or keep a clubhouse joke running.

Devenski can make the claim in all seriousness. He stared in the mirror last November and became “more disciplined with the nutritional side of the game.” A stricter diet this winter allowed Devenski to drop 20 pounds. He reported to camp weighing 211. He ended last season at 230.

“One thing I learned about myself is the lighter I feel, the more athletic I feel,” Devenski said. “For me, it’s just (about) the overall feel on the mound.”

Slimming down is Devenski’s first step to right what’s recently gone so wrong. Across the past two seasons, he’s recorded a 4.56 ERA in 1161/3 innings with a WHIP nearing 1.25.

The Astros once viewed Devenski as their most valuable reliever in playoff runs. In both 2018 and 2019, though, Devenski was handed the baseball only when a game was well decided. More consistent choices like Will Harris and Hector Rondon soon assumed the innings Devenski once dominated.

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The departures of Rondon and Harris leave the Astros searching for steady middle relief and a de facto lefthanded specialist — a role Harris filled for most of last season. Manager Dusty Baker’s already expressed his wish to carry a lefthander in his bullpen, but his 40-man options are few and far between.

At his best, Devenski locked up lefthanded hitters better than most actual southpaws seem capable. A return to brilliance would benefit the vulnerable middle of the Astros’ bullpen.

During Devenski’s All-Star season in 2017, lefthanders took 157 plate appearances against him. They hit .111 and mustered a .414 OPS. Devenski’s delivery can be tricky for lefthanders to pick up. His changeup is deadly.

For Devenski to utilize the changeup, though, he must fall into favorable counts. A lack of fastball command during the last two seasons has eliminated that thought.

Devenski’s four-seam fastball has regressed dramatically during his decline. In 2017, he yielded just a .211 batting average and .411 slugging percentage against it. In 2018, opponents slugged .551 when facing the four-seamer. Last year, they hit .301 against it.

“I worked this offseason on getting my fastball right, getting my command right and spinning the ball out of my hand the right way,” Devenski said. “I went back and did a bunch of drills on that. I think everything for me is mental. I know the way my body feels and when I’m in the shape I’m in right now, I feel I’m aware of my body and things like that. It’s just more mental and making minor adjustments.”

Devenski’s first Grapefruit League appearance in Tuesday’s 7-4 loss to the Miami Marlins offered some optimism.

In all, Devenski faced five hitters but was frequently in bad counts. He entered the day wanting to work on his slider and seldom-used curveball, catcher Dustin Garneau said, setting up some of the unfavorable counts. Arm speed on his changeup was not ideal, but the Marlins’ Monte Harrison still struck out against it. Matt Kemp swung through another.

“He’s having, for me, more confidence in throwing his heater when he wants to throw it,” said Garneau, who caught many of Devenski’s live batting practice seand bullpen sessions earlier in camp. “When he wanted his heater, it was there.”

Devenski’s fastball velocity reached 96 mph, according to the stadium radar gun but did produce some hard contact. Miami’s Jon Berti struck a screamer that third baseman Nick Tanielu snared to save a single.

Both Kemp and Garrett Cooper contributed singles for the Marlins, putting Devenski in immediate danger. He wiggled out of it with a groundball, giving his familiar strut off the field with no runs across.

chandler.rome@chron.com

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