Astros name Keuchel as Opening Day starter

Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch announced Friday morning that Dallas Keuchel will start Opening Day.

Hinch met with reporters Friday, prior to the Astros' spring training game at Port St. Lucie, to say: "It's a simple decision for me. But it’s nice that he (Keuchel) went five innings in his last outing and I can officially name him the Opening Day guy." Brian McTaggart of MLB.com tweeted the exchange.

The 29-year-old Keuchel is a year removed from winning the 2015 Cy Young award. He then suffered through some regression and shoulder problems last year, recording a 4.55 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 168 innings. Still, the left-hander posted favorable underlying numbers, pitching 8 percent better than the league average in terms of FIP while dealing with an abnormally high home run-to-fly ball rate.

The Astros' rotation is pretty deep, but the incumbent Keuchel was likely a lock for the Opening Day job all along. Collin McHugh was probably the only other candidate under consideration, but some "dead arm" during spring has slowed his progress. And while McHugh posted better numbers in terms of innings pitched and ERA last year, Hinch told Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle that he might not be ready for Opening Day.