Astros Starter Spencer Arrighetti to Pitch Against Rockies This Week

The Astros get some rotation reinforcements while facing injury.

Aug 30, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti (41) delivers a pitch during the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Daikin Park. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The start to the 2026 season has not been kind to the Houston Astros. Heading into Tuesday night's action, they sit at 6-11 and in last place in the American League West. Coming off a season where the missed the postseason for the first time in a decade, it's not the start to team was hoping for.

The big story surrounding the team last year, which just missed the playoffs in the final days of the season, was the injury bug. According to Dan Szymborski of Fangraphs, the Astros last season lost the most fWAR in baseball to injury with 17.6. Unfortunately for the team, that trend has continued.

So far, they have lost two everyday hitters and three starters to the injured list, including Jeremy Peña, Hunter Brown, Tatsuya Imai and Cristian Javier. They've already had to do some major shuffling, especially in the rotation. On Tuesday, The Athletic's Chandler Rome (subscription required) reported that Spencer Arrighetti was back with the team on the taxi squad.

Arighetti Provides Much Needed Depth With Experience

Houston Astros pitcher Spencer Arrighetti. | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

The Astros need innings from starting pitchers, it's as simple as that. With the top three arms in their rotation all on the injured list, Houston had to quickly find some reinforcements. Colton Gordon made his first start of the year on Tuesday and Arrighetti won't be too far behind.

Arrighetti is on the taxi squad for now, but according to Rome, he will start on either Wednesday or Thursday, as of his reporting on Tuesday and according to manager Joe Espada.

The right-hander was pretty solid as a rookie in 2024. As a 24-year-old, Arrighetti tossed 145 innings with a 4.53 ERA with a 10.6 K/9 and 0.4 bWAR. He was worse than league average, with a 89 ERA+, but he ended the season well.

In the last two months of the 2024 season, Arrighetti went at least six innings six times, including two outings of seven or more innings. He seemingly earned his way onto the 2025 roster, but got dealt a bad hand to begin his sopohomore season.

After two stars, he broke his thumb and went on the IL. After returning in August, he made five starts before going down with an elbow injury. While on the mound last season, he posted a 5.35 ERA in 35.1 innings.

Arrighetti began the season in Triple-A and got off to an excellent start in the hitter friendly PCL. In three starts, he has a 1.26 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 14.1 innings. He's only walked 3.8 batters per nine so far this season, a good sign as that is something he has struggled with in the past.

The Astros will need to count on Arrighetti pretty heavily moving forward. With the three starters in the shelf, they need the innings wherever they can get them.