Astros, Joe Espada put way too much pressure on latest savior prospect

The Houston Astros are off to dreadful start to their 2024 campaign in more ways than one. While their current record leaves a lot to be desired, the larger concern is the health of their pitching staff, which lacks Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers and more due to injury.

Because of this lack of depth, Houston and Joe Espada decided to promote one of the team's top pitching prospects, Spencer Arrighetti, in hopes of giving those still in the rotation a bit of a breather.

“He’s going to be starting the game [Wednesday],” Espada said at the time. “We want to make sure we protect some of these guys. Having Arrighetti here will allow us to push everyone back a day and protect our young starters. We’re going to need them for a long season.”

Yeah, about that. As much as Astros fans want to see Arrighetti succeed, bringing him up as a stopgap of sorts isn't the answer. Starting pitchers often struggle with confidence. We're just over a week into the MLB season, and Arrighetti has yet to rack up many innings in the minors as well. Calling him up at this juncture could lead to a poor result.

Houston Astros made a mistake going to top prospect too soon

Arrighetti started Wednesday's game against the Royals and didn't make it out of the fourth inning, giving up seven runs on seven hits and three walks. Arrighetti had a career 4.37 ERA in the minor leagues prior to this outing, which suggests that maybe -- and hear me out, please -- the 24-year-old isn't as polished as the Astros need him to be.

Arrighetti's control has been an issue in his minor league appearances, and he gave up four runs in just as many innings pitched in Florida during Astros spring training. Here's what MLB Pipeline had to say about Arrighetti's ceiling, and the improvements he has yet to make:

"To reach his ceiling as a No. 4 starter, Arrighetti will have to refine his control and command. He threw more strikes with less stuff in college, though he doesn't have to be terribly precise because his low arm slot and the extension in his delivery create a lot of deception. If he can't stick in the rotation, his fastball/slider combination and competitive nature could make him a bullpen weapon."

Unfortunately, the Astros are between a rock and a hard place with their pitching staff. Arrighetti isn't the answer they thought he might be.