The Houston Astros are struggling with their starting rotation, contributing to a poor 9-15 record and last place in the AL West. Injuries to key players have exacerbated the situation, although Spencer Arrighetti showed promise in a recent game.
Starting rotation woes continue to bury Astros in latest power rankings originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
When the Houston Astros lost Framber Valdez over the winter, there were some concerns with the starting rotation. And while they signed Tatsuya Imai and Mike Burrows, some believed that would not be enough.
As of right now, those people would be correct. Houston's starting rotation has not looked the part this year, which is a big reason for their 9-15 start, which has them sitting alone at the bottom of the AL West.
Injuries have also played a part, with Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Imai, and Ronel Blanco all on the IL. But for fans looking for a positive, Spencer Arrighetti made his second start of the season on Monday, going five strong innings with two runs earned on five hits in the 9-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
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The Astros' poor start is primarily due to issues with their starting rotation and injuries to key pitchers.
Injured pitchers include Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai, and Ronel Blanco.
Spencer Arrighetti pitched five innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits in a 9-2 win against the Cleveland Guardians.
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While the emergence of Arrighetti is nice, other pitchers will have to step up if the Astros want to get out of this hole that they dug for themselves.
Mike Burrows is one of these arms that needs to do just that. He has made five starts, compiling a 1-3 record with a 6.75 ERA across 26.2 innings of work.
Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter does not have much faith in the club's starting rotation, ranking them 26th in his latest power ranking.
"The Astros snapped an eight-game losing streak last Tuesday, but after a pair of victories over the Colorado Rockies, they are again trending in the wrong direction with four straight losses. They got a strong start from Spencer Arrighetti after he was recalled from Triple-A last week, but they still rank last in the majors with a [5.93 ERA] from their starting staff."
Fans cannot expect this team to go far until the starting staff gets things under control. It may take a few of these arms coming off the IL to do just that, but they will have to wait a while.
Hunter brown is likely the first to come off the IL, and the earliest he is expected back is late May.