Joe Espada has made it clear that he wants to start the season with a six-man rotation. Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Mike Burrows and Tatsuya Imai appear to have four of those spots reserved, but what about the other two?
Here’s a list of contenders to watch as the start of spring training approaches in just a week.
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Spencer Arrighetti
Arrighetti was limited to just seven starts and 35.1 innings last season. He missed four months after suffering a broken thumb when he was hit by an errant ball during batting practice. He made five starts in August, but was shut down in September due to elbow inflammation.
The good news is that Arrighetti didn’t need elbow surgery and told reporters at FanFest on Saturday that he threw seven bullpens, which would seem to mean he’s on track to be up and running when spring training begins.
The 26-year-old has an 87 ERA+ over his first two Major League seasons, but the Astros would be over the moon if he can find a way to come close to replicating the 3.18 ERA he posted over the second half of 2024 with a 29 percent strikeout rate and 7.9 percent walk rate.
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Lance McCullers Jr.
It’s now or never for McCullers, who is in the final year of the five-year, $85 million extension he signed before the 2021 season. McCullers returned after missing more than two seasons due to flexor tendon surgery and posted a 6.51 ERA in 55.1 innings between three separate IL stints, although none were arm-related.
If you’re looking for signs of optimism for the 32-year-old in 2026, you can point to a few early starts in his return. He struck out 12 while allowing three runs in six innings against the A’s on May 28, pitched six shutout innings against the Pirates six days later and held the Dodgers to one run in six innings on July 4, but compiled an 8.10 ERA over his final seven games.
Despite his time on the IL, McCullers was healthy at the end of the season, which should have given him a normal offseason surge for the first time in a long time, but it’s hard to think of him returning to the form that earned him a top 10 Cy Young finish the season before his extension began.
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Jason Alexander
Claimed off waivers from the A’s in May, Alexander saved an injury-ravaged Astros rotation. The 32-year-old journeyman posted a 3.66 ERA and the Astros won 10 of his first 11 before losing his last two.
Whether or not Alexander can repeat this success remains to be seen. His FIP with the Astros was higher than his ERA, and there’s a lot of blue in his Baseball Savant profile, and a lot of that blue is dark. His 22 percent chase rate was among the lowest 1 percent in all of baseball. It’s a tough way to make a living.
Ryan Weiss
The Astros thought highly of Weiss enough to give him $2.6 million after he compiled a 2.87 ERA with a 28.6 percent strikeout rate in 178.2 innings last season in the KBO. Last season marked a major improvement for the former fourth-round pick, who posted a 3.77 ERA in the second half of 2024 after starting the year in the Atlantic League.
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Weiss shows average fastball velocity, although Astros general manager Dana Brown said he was capable of touching 97 mph in Korea, and his command and control, which were strong points for him during his first stint in the United States, improved in the KBO.
It remains to be seen whether or not the improvements Weiss made last season will continue. He pitched parts of three seasons in Triple-A for the Diamondbacks and Royals, posting a 6.72 ERA in 89.2 innings, and his numbers in Double-A weren’t much better.
AJ Blubaugh
Blubaugh made his Major League debut on April 30, allowing two runs in four innings against the Tigers, and did not return to the big leagues until August, when he pitched well every time Joe Espada gave him the ball. Blubaugh finished last season with a 1.69 ERA in 32 innings, working primarily out of the bullpen as a long reliever.
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The 26-year-old showed average fastball speed and relied on a sweeper against righties, but opponents went 0 for 29 against his changeup, which he could throw effectively to both lefties and righties. Although the sample size was small, Blubaugh’s FIP was almost three times his ERA, indicating some luck, although his strikeout numbers suggest his low ERA was not entirely a mirage.
Perhaps the biggest question moving forward is whether the Astros view Blubaugh as a starter. He made only three starts and was never asked to flip a lineup twice, reaching 19 batters faced in his first two Major League outings.
Colton Gordon
Gordon compiled a 5.34 ERA in 86 innings in his first taste of Major League action last season. The 27-year-old had one of the lowest walk rates in baseball, but he didn’t miss at bats and allowed too much hard contact. Opponents hit .298 against his four-seam fastball with a .645 slugging percentage. That pitch had a run value of -10, according to Baseball Savant, and his sweeper — which opponents hit .515 against — had a run value of -7.
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Unless he improves his fastball velocity, which is well below average, or develops another weapon, it’s hard to see Gordon surviving as a Major League starter.
Nate Pearson
The Astros signed Pearson to a one-year contract worth $1.35 million in October, a month after he was released by the Cubs. Once one of baseball’s top prospects, the 29-year-old has a 5.17 ERA in 123 major league games, almost entirely out of the bullpen, but represents an intriguing reclamation project for a team with a strong history of fixing pitchers.
Although major league success has eluded Pearson, elite velocity has not. The right-hander’s four-seam fastball averaged 97.6 mph last season, and he has a slider that generated a 37.5 percent whiff rate in 2024. He probably profiles more as a reliever, but a starter with elite speed is a hot commodity, and Pearson reunites with Brown, who was part of the Blue Jays front office when he was drafted in the first round nine years ago.
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Miguel Ullola
Considered the Astros’ best pitcher by MLB.com, Ullola finished 2025 with a 3.88 ERA while appearing in 28 games (23 starts) and logging 113.2 innings for Triple-A Sugar Land. He posted a 26.6% strikeout rate, but also walked nearly 16% of the batters he faced. It’s hard to see him having consistent success at the major league level if he doesn’t throw more strikes.
The good news is that his ERA fell to 3.00 in Sugar Land, where conditions more closely resemble major league parks, but that did nothing to curb his walk rate, which actually increased slightly.
