Spencer Zane Arrighetti (born January 2, 2000) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2024.
| Spencer Arrighetti | |
|---|---|
| Houston Astros – No. 41 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: January 2, 2000 Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. | |
Bats: Right Throws: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 10, 2024, for the Houston Astros | |
| MLB statistics (through August 28, 2024) | |
| Win–loss record | 7–11 |
| Earned run average | 4.63 |
| Strikeouts | 151 |
| Teams | |
| |
Amateur career
editArrighetti attended Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, Texas, and played college baseball at TCU, Navarro College, and Louisiana.[1] As a freshman at TCU, Arrighetti made 16 appearances (1 start), striking out 19 batters across 17 innings pitched.[2] In 2020, Arrighetti transferred to Navarro College, where he made four starts, pitching to a 2–2 win-loss record and 4.26 earned run average (ERA) with 30 strikeouts.[3] That same year, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters of the Northwoods League.
As a junior, Arrighetti transferred to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In 2021, he led the Ragin' Cajuns with 83.2 innings pitched, posting a 7–6 record with a 3.12 ERA and a team-high 91 strikeouts.[4]
Professional career
editDraft and minor leagues (2021–2023)
editArrighetti was drafted by the Houston Astros in the sixth round of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft.[5][6] He made his professional debut that same year with the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Astros before being promoted to the Single-A Fayetteville Woodpeckers. Arrighetti started 2022 with the High-A Asheville Tourists before his promotion to the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks.[7] Between the two clubs, he made 27 appearances (17 starts), posting a 7–6 record with a 4.73 ERA and 152 strikeouts over 1062⁄3 innings. Arrighetti split the 2023 season between the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks and the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Following the season, Arrighetti was named the Houston Astros' 2023 Minor League Pitcher of the Year.[8][9]
Major League rookie season (2024)
editArrighetti began the 2024 season with Triple-A Sugar Land where he made two starts, posting a 2.16 ERA in 81⁄3 innings.[10] The Astros promoted him to the major leagues on April 10, 2024, and he made his major league debut that night.[11] He allowed seven runs across three innings and struck out three batters against the Kansas City Royals.[10] He achieved his first major league win on May 13, 2024, after allowing two runs over five innings to the Oakland Athletics in a 9–2 final.[12] Arrighetti recorded 10 strikeouts in a major league game for the first time on June 26 in a 7–1 victory over the Colorado Rockies.[13]
On August 4, 2024, Arrighetti struck out 12 batters in the 1–0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.[14] In his next start, against the Boston Red Sox, he struck out a career-high 13 batters across seven innings in the 5–4 win.[15][16] Those performances made Arrighetti the first rookie in American League (AL) history to strike out 12 batters each in consecutive starts.[17] On August 28, Arrighetti took a no-hitter into seventh inning versus the Philadelphia Phillies, and had a career-high 7 2⁄3 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts to lead a 10–0 win.[18] For the month of August, he posted a 1.95 ERA, 0.90 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP), and 47 strikeouts over 32 1⁄3 innings, thus being recognized as AL Rookie of the Month.[19]
In a contest versus the San Diego Padres on September 16, 2024, Arrighetti retired prospective 3-time batting champion Luis Arráez on a strikeout for the first time in 141 plate appearances, the longest such streak in the major leagues since Juan Pierre resisted 147 in 2004.[20]
During Arrighetti's rookie campaign, his efforts evolved into an integral piece of the Astros' starting rotation, during which he pitched 29 appearances, starting 28 and produced a 4.53 ERA, 7–13 W–L, and 171 strikeouts over 145 innings. His 13 losses were sixth-most in the AL and 65 BB were 7th-most.[21] Following the regular season, he was named the Houston Astros Rookie of the Year by the Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).[22]
Awards
edit| Award | Category | Result / Section |
No. | Year | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston Astros | |||||
| Rookie of the Year | 1 | 2024 | [22] | ||
References
edit- ^ Foote, Kevin (February 24, 2021). "Armed with new-found confidence, Spencer Arrighetti ready to shine for Cajuns". The Advocate. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
- ^ "Spencer Arrighetti - Baseball". TCU Athletics. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ "Region 14 Athletics". Region 14 Athletics. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ "Cajuns Baseball Alum Arrighetti Called Up By Astros". Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ Rome, Chandler (July 12, 2021). "Astros draft former Cinco Ranch pitcher Spencer Arrighetti". Houston Chronicle.
- ^ "UL's Arrighetti, Cooke punctuate turnaround seasons by getting drafted on day two of MLB draft". July 12, 2021.
- ^ "Pair of Astros Prospects Receive Promotion to Corpus Christi". Sports Illustrated Inside the Astros.
- ^ "Astros Pitching Prospect Spencer Arrighetti Is All in With Analytics". FanGraphs Baseball. April 4, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ Vann, Leah (March 19, 2024). "Astros' pitching prospect hopes resilience pays off with a rookie debut". Chron.
- ^ a b "Houston Astros Top Pitching Prospect Rocked in MLB Debut". Sports Illustrated. April 11, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ "Aching Astros call up pitching prospect Arrighetti". ESPN.com. Associated Press. April 10, 2024. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ^ "Alex Bregman homers twice, drives in 4 runs as Astros pound Athletics 9–2". ESPN.com. Associated Press. May 13, 2024. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
- ^ McTaggart, Brian (June 26, 2024). "Astros hit target set in Mexico, reach .500 for first time: Arrighetti sets personal mark with 10 K's for Houston, which wins season-high 7th in a row". MLB.com. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
- ^ Peredes Hernández, Perla (August 4, 2024). "12-K day reflects Spencer Arrighetti's increasing belief in his stuff". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ "Astros' Spencer Arrighetti tosses 7 strong innings & racks up 13 strikeouts against the Red Sox". FOX Sports. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ "Spencer Arrighetti racks up career-high 13 K's | October 8, 2024". MLB.com. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ Maher, Tyler (August 12, 2024). "Houston Astros pitchers shine in record-setting sweep of Red Sox". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
- ^ McTaggart, Brian (August 28, 2024). "Alvarez hits 3 HRs, Arrighetti flirts with no-no ... and Altuve steals home?!". MLB.com. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
- ^ Sepe-Chepuru, Shanthi (September 3, 2024). "Here are MLB's 8 top performers from August". MLB.com. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
- ^ McTaggart (September 16, 2024). "Arrighetti can hang his hat on rare K of batting champ". MLB.com. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
- ^ "Spencer Arrighetti stats, height, weight, position, rookie status & more". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
- ^ a b McTaggart, Brian [@brianmctaggart] (October 1, 2024). "The Houston Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Associations of America has announced the 2024 Astros award winners" (Tweet). Houston. Retrieved October 7, 2024 – via Twitter.
External links
edit- Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)