Jandel Gustave

Position: RHP
Born: 10/12/1992
Height: 6'2
Weight: 160
B/T: R/R
Acquired: Signed as an international free agent (Dominican Republic) May 25, 2010 (HOU).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 2-2 with a 3.71 ERA in 41 games at Fresno (Triple-A), striking out 52 while walking 18 in 51 innings, giving up 43 hits.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Recalled from Fresno on August 8 when OF Carlos Gomez was designated for assignment.
MLB Debut Date: 8/11/2016

Debut Details
August 11, in a 15-7 win against the Twins. The last of three pitchers, he allowed one run on three hits in one inning, throwing one wild pitch. Coming on in the bottom of the ninth in relief of reliever Tony Sipp, he gave up a single to left field the first big-league batter he faced, Juan Centeno, before recording his first out when Robbie Grossman flied out to left. With Brian Dozier at bat, Gustave’s wild pitch allowed Centeno to move to second base, and he scored on Dozier’s subsequent double to center field. Trevor Plouffe made the second out of the inning when he lined out to center, before Max Kepler’s infield single advanced Dozier to third to put runners at the corners. However, Kennys Vargas grounded out to second to end the inning.

Player Notes
So, yeah, technically, Gustave’s acquisition by the Astros circles back to their signing him out of his home country of the Dominican Republic back in May of 2010 and he has never played for another organization. He has, however, been under the “control” of the Red Sox, Royals and Padres without ever throwing a pitch for any of those organization. To wit: After seeing limited time in the Dominican Summer League in 2010 and 2011, and 10 games of action in his stateside debut with the Astros in the Gulf Coast League in 2012, he moved slowly and steadily through the ranks, posting a 2.68 ERA in 10 starts at Greeneville (Short-Season A) in 2013, striking out 49 batters in 43.2 IP, and going 5-5 with a 5.01 ERA in 23 games, 14 of them starts, at Quad Cities (Class A) in 2014, fanning 82 batters and walking 29 in 79 innings. That offseason he became eligible for the MLB Rule 5 Draft and on December 11 he was selected in that draft by Boston and traded to the Royals. He spent most of 2015 spring training with Kansas City but when it was clear he would not stick with the club, as required by the Rule 5 rules, he was placed on waivers and claimed by San Diego on March 26. The Padres, however, could also not rationalize keeping him up in the majors and on April 3, 2015, he was returned to the Astros, where he’s been ever since. Armed with an elite fastball that has touched 100 but also with some control issues that he’s been addressing, he skipped past High A and went 5-2 with a 2.15 ERA in 46 games out of the pen for Corpus Christi (Double-A) with the Astros in 2015, collecting 20 saves in his new closer role in the system, and striking out 49 while walking 25 in 58.2 innings.