PHILADELPHIA — In the minors, the former outfielder with the paintbrush-flick to his delivery was so strikingly serene in his movements, so confident in his fastball that he could lacquer the strike zone with it and still leave hitters unsure what they saw.
It was just there.
Until it wasn’t.
Cristian Javier did not need eye-catching velocity for the mind-boggling results Houston Astros pitcher coach Josh Miller saw time and time again. Young hitters reared up to hit a fastball cruising between 88 mph and 92 mph only to be set down the same way each time, perplexed.