Houston Astros Demote Top Pitching Prospect For Long-Time Minor Leaguer

The Houston Astros have made another change to their starting rotation, something that has become all too familiar recently.

Apr 10, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Houston Astros pitcher Spencer Arrighetti (41) / William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports

To say the Houston Astros are treading water would be putting it lightly.

They are dealing with a bevvy of injuries to their starting rotation with five of them on the injured list at this point in time. That's resulted in a revolving door of pitchers being called up and used as they try to get through this rough stretch.

Right now, it's not looking too good.

The Astros sit last in the AL West standings entering Tuesday with a record of 6-12.

As the front office and coaching staff continue to search for answers, they decided that they would finally give their long-time prospect, Forrest Whitley, an opportunity to make his Major League debut.

It's been a difficult journey for the player who was considered Houston's No. 1 prospect from 2018-2021. Suspensions and injuries have held him back from performing in the MLB.

Heading into 2024, there was some thought that he would be apart of the bullpen on Opening Day.

However, after not being healthy enough to appear in a spring training game, he was ultimately sent to the minors at the start of this season.

Whitley's call up is expected to be a bullpen addition as he transitioned from starter to reliever in preparation of his future Major League role. Because of the issues that the Astros' starting rotation has had, the relief staff was overly taxed.

The interesting angle to this entire story was announced by Houston's official social media account.

Their current top pitching prospect, Spencer Arrighetti, who was called up early this month, is the player on their current roster who is going being sent down to Triple-A in correspondence to this move.

It was a tough introduction to the MLB for the 24-year-old as he allowed nine earned runs over seven innings pitched with eight strikeouts compared to five walks. He also gave up an opponent's batting average of .344.

Now, Arrighetti will get more time to develop in Triple-A, while they continue to search for answers in their starting rotation and have given their bullpen more help by way of Whitley.