Houston Astros Rising Star Named One of Top MLB Pitching Breakout Candidates

The Houston Astros sophomore hurler is one of the top potential breakout stars for this upcoming season.

Feb 14, 2025; West Palm Beach, FL, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti (41) works on a fielding exercise during a spring training workout at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros reworked their offense a bit this offseason, but didn't do too much to their pitching.

In all fairness, there wasn't much to be done. It was a strength of the team once things turned around and there around some interesting names from in-house to fill in losses.

They will also be counting on a handful of younger players to continue their positive momentum that they have from last season.

One such player is starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti, who some believe could be a true star in the making.

Eno Sarris of The Athletic (subscription required) recently included Arrighetti as one of six top potential breakout pitchers across MLB.

The 25-year-old made his debut last season. Things got off to a rocky start as he had a 6.13 ERA over his first 15 starts. In the 14 appearances (13 starts) that he made after that, he was down to just a 3.08 ERA.

One thing working heavily into Arrighetti's favor is the fact that he is a true strikeout machine. He led all Astros starters last year with an impressive 10.6 K/9. In fact, he was the only player in the rotation to finish with double digits in that category.

Across all of MLB, he finished 12th among players that had at least 100 innings pitched. The names above him include Garrett Crochet, Blake Snell, Paul Skenes, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal. These are some of the best starting pitchers in baseball and great company for Arrighetti to be in.

Arrighetti has had a very nice spring so far. He has pitched four innings of scoreless ball with just one hit given up and five strikeouts.

If it weren't for the fact that he has walked three batters already, it would be a picture perfect start to his sophomore year.

All three of those walks and the hit came in his first outing of the preseason against the St. Louis Cardinals.

He was able to force consecutive fielder's choices to help get out of an early jam. Even the hit that he gave up was an infield single, so no one has really been able to piece him up yet.

His next outing saw him sit down the top of the starting New York Yankees lineup in order over two innings.

Overreacting to spring games can be foolish, but this is nearly the exact start that Houston had to be hoping for out of their emerging star.