The Astros have found themselves in the best division in baseball this year, yet they continue to scuffle. Brett Oberholtzer has improved throughout the season and is giving the Astros reason for hope in the future. Since the break, he has a 3.28 ERA and won as many games as he did in the first half of the year.

Even though he’s improved, Oberholtzer has shown that the first inning is a troublesome one for him. While his ERA is not worse than those in the third and fourth, a 4.26 mark is nothing to be satisfied with. In his 19 innings of work, Oberholtzer has only walked two batters, so he is challenging them. However, they are winning the battle often, with a .325 batting average against, along with a .538 slugging percentage. He’s let up four home runs in the first, on top of five doubles.

Oberholtzer’s problem lies largely in the hitters producing, so he needs to get his stuff sharper right out of the gate.