‘It’s a dream come true:’ Arrighetti ready to debut for hometown Astros.
A lot of young pitchers in his generation likely shared Spencer Arrighetti’s adoration for Justin Verlander, which is why the Astros pitching prospect wore jersey No. 35 as a child. When Verlander joined the Astros for his age-41 season, he was and still is the guy.
Upon arriving at the Astros’ complex for Spring Training earlier this month, Arrighetti—ranked as the third best prospect in Houston by MLB Pipeline—examined the nameplates for his locker, which just happens to be next to Verlander. Actually, it wasn’t even luck. By design, the Astros positioned their best pitching prospect, Arrighetti, next to Verlander. The Astros are hoping that over the next three weeks, Arrighetti may pick up some knowledge from the future Hall of Famer.
“You end up in the locker room next to somebody you’ve been watching since you were little and you get drafted by a team,” Arrighetti remarked. “Undoubtedly, it’s a dream come true.”
After graduating from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in the sixth round of the 2021 Astros Draft, Arrighetti might make his Major League debut this year after going to Triple-A in 2023. In 124 2/3 Minor League innings last year, split between Double-A Corpus Christi (60 2/3 innings) and Triple-A Sugar Land (64 innings), he recorded a 4.40 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
After starting the season with an 11.05 ERA in his first four Corpus Christi appearances, Arrighetti rapidly turned things around, going on to record a 0.67 ERA in five appearances in May and earning the team’s Minor League Pitcher of the Month award. After settling well, he was promoted to Triple-A in the middle of the season. A minor adjustment to his mechanics and a greater ability to regulate his emotions on the mound were credited with the turnaround.
One of Arrighetti’s most remarkable qualities, according to Jacob Buffa, senior director of player development and performance science for the Astros, is his adaptability.
“A player who competes in the major leagues for an extended period of time is not the same player at the end of their career as they were at the start,” he stated. “Spencer did a fantastic job of identifying areas where performance was lacking and what needed to be changed with the assistance of our coaches.”
Like Verlander, the 24-year-old right-hander is a student of pitching. He loves to talk about pitching and isn’t shy about diving into analytics, though sometimes admittedly a bit too much. He discusses his pitches as plots on a graph and says when he’s going well, the plots are far apart.
“I consume it,” he murmured. I’ve developed a slight obsession with the metrics, and occasionally I get a little too fixated on them, obsessing over them more than the actual game. Right now, I’m attempting to strike that balance. The better the ball is leaving my hand, in my opinion, the more I care about execution and the less I worry about what the data is telling me. I need to locate a contented area in the midst.
Arrighetti threw five pitch types last year and this season has added a sinker to go along with his four-seam fastball, cutter, changeup, curveball and sweeper. His focus is to consistently find the strike zone with his offspeed pitches and get ahead in the count quickly with his fastball. The addition of a sinker speaks to Arrighetti’s willingness to try new things.
“The sinker, it’s going to be a slow burn I think,” he said. “It’s not going to be my predominant fastball ever, most likely, but it will be a useful weapon for me against righties once I start building it in and finding good spots in the zone to throw it.”
Being an Astros fan from Houston, Arrighetti still finds it hard to believe he will get to throw for his home team and be Verlander’s teammate. This year, if he can continue honing his toolkit and reduce his 4.26 walks per nine innings from the previous season, the dream might take him to Minute Maid Park.
He said, “I have to go be Spencer.” “I must assault the zone. In baseball, I believe you’re on the right track if you can control walks and strike out opponents. I come here to manage walks and punch people out. That’s my job.
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