When putting together a dynasty team, you should always have a blueprint to how you want to build that team and maintain it. But that doesn’t mean you sometimes make exceptions to those plans.

I tend to shy away from young pitchers because they are so volatile as they get their feet wet on the major league level. But some pitchers quickly show they deserve a spot on your roster. Hunter Brown is one of those pitchers.

I had Brown ranked at 198 in the preseason Top 200 Dynasty Keepers, so his performance is not a total shock. However, he is making me eat my words about avoiding young pitchers until they are proven. While he has only two full months of major league experience along with a month of postseason experience, he has more than shown that he can get major league hitters out.

Very Good, Not Great

Brown didn’t race his way to the majors. After not being drafted out of high school, the right-hander went to Wayne State University in his hometown of Detroit. While there he showed off his great fastball but also his propensity for not being able to command the strike zone.

In three seasons at Wayne State he appeared in in 41 games and made 25 starts, going 14-3 with a 3.33 ERA. He had an outstanding 10.0 K/9 rate, whiffing 178 batters in 159.2 innings of work while allowing only 139 hits. But he also walked 72 batters, or 4.1 per nine innings and had a 1.322 WHIP.

Obviously, scouts weren’t demanding that Brown be drafted as he lasted until the Astros selected him in the fifth round in 2019. Perhaps the fact Brown went to a small college instead of a power school played a part in him dropping to the fifth round. But it appears the Astros struck gold in Brown.