Astros Youngster Continues to Impress This Spring After Dominating Breakout Game

The Houston Astros could have the next star for their rotation ready to perform based on how he's done this spring.
Astros Youngster Continues to Impress This Spring After Dominating Breakout Game
Astros Youngster Continues to Impress This Spring After Dominating Breakout Game /
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Outside of the usual suspects for the Houston Astros, there were some young names that generated buzz heading into spring based on comments made by the front office and general manager Dana Brown.

With some uncertainty about the future of certain players based on their age and contract situations, the Astros know they have to develop players in their minor league system to their fullest extent possible.

Despite constantly having a pipeline that is considered the worst in baseball, when players have reached the MLB, they've performed well more often than not.

Brown mentioned they'd need to use internal candidates to fill some of the holes in their bullpen.

Houston's No. 3 overall prospect Spencer Arrighetti was tabbed by MLB Pipeline as the player "who stood out the most" when they faced on the St. Louis Cardinals.

The right-hander threw two scoreless innings, not allowing a single hit and only walking one batter.

For a while, Arrighetti was seen as a guy who could potentially make the Opening Day roster to fill one of the new spots in the bullpen following the departure of three players in free agency and a season-long injury to another.

However, he was sent to their minor league camp following a difficult outing against the Philadelphia Phillies in his second Spring Training game.

To start, he went two scoreless innings while giving up only one hit when facing the Detroit Tigers, but things changed during the Phillies game as he gave up four earned runs on five hits.

Putting together a great performance in the Spring Breakout game will likely go a long way for Arrighetti.

Not only was it a bounce back outing, but he showed that he can dominate other top prospects and is on the verge of being ready for the bigs.

He's had difficulty locating the ball consistently during his time in the minors, but so far this spring, he's been much more accurate.

The 24-year-old should be one of the Astros' first call-ups this season where he'll have an opportunity to prove he can become one of their next stars.


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Brad Wakai
BRAD WAKAI

Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he did work at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad currently covers the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros for Sports Illustrated/FanNation. He is also the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continues to cover Penn State athletics. Brad is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, discussing topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai