Cristian Javier News: Excels in second spring start

Javier struck out five and allowed two hits and one walk over four scoreless innings Sunday in the Astros' 1-0 win over the Marlins in Grapefruit League play.

Taking the hill for his second start of spring training, Javier built up to 56 pitches, spotting 38 of them for strikes while generating 11 whiffs. The right-hander's fastball averaged 92.3 miles per hour on the afternoon, a half tick behind his average from the 2025 season and about a half tick up from the 91.7 mph he averaged during his first start back on March 9, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Javier is expected to make one final Grapefruit League start during the upcoming week before making his first turn of the regular season in the Astros' four-game home series versus the Angels at the end of the month.