Wild Graphic Shows Just How Dire Astros Situation with Pitching Injuries Looks

The Houston Astros have been hit with a ridiculous amount of injuries to their pitching staff.

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros have been able to keep their heads above water and play right around .500 baseball despite a unique set of challenges to begin the season.

With an offense that is struggling to find any sort of consistency night over night to a pitching staff which has flashed brilliance but seen some head-scratching performances as well, the Astros are a couple of fixes away from being a very competitive team.

Perhaps the biggest challenge they have faced though is what seems to be an unprecedented amount of injuries to the pitching staff, and more specifically the starting rotation.

Houston has been saved in this department by major step ups from guys like Hunter Brown and another solid season for Framber Valdez, however things have started to pile up in the medical department.

During the game on Friday night against the Texas Rangers, an absolutely wild graphic depicted just how many potential starters are on the mend:

Apple graphic on Astros Pitcher injuries: pic.twitter.com/d21iMdIvha

— Ari Alexander (@AriA1exander) May 17, 2025

Each of Spencer Arrighetti, J.P. France, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, Hayden Wesneski, and Forrest Whitley are out for their own unique reasons and some have a good chance to return soon, but the fact that an entire rotation's worth of arms is down feels absurd.

When Could Each of the Astros Injured Starters Be Back?

Arrighetti, who suffered an absolutely freak thumb injury during warmups of a game in early April, was initially projected to be back sometime in late May. This feels slightly optimisic as he has not begun throwing yet, but it seems he will be back sooner than later.

France underwent surgery last year and was projected to make a return sometime around the All-Star break. It does not sound like to this point he has suffered any major setbacks.

The prognosis on Garcia is less bright as he was shut down for another month earlier this season and to be re-evaluated, not generally a positive sign that he's on his way back.

Javier is coming up on the one-year mark of Tommy John surgery and started to throw last week, an encouraging sign that he could be nearing a return sometime this summer as well.

How long Wesneski takes to come back remains to be seen after he was shelved recently with elbow discomfort, though nothing definitive has been revealed to this point.

As for former top prospect Whitley, anything he can provide at this point would feel like a major bonus after his career has been derailed several times to various ailments.

All six pitchers figure to take the mound for Houston at some point in the future, however whether it is this year or next seems to be a mystery.

If the Astros can get the boost of even just a couple of the long list coming back this year, it would be a huge development for the staff as a whole.