Joe Espada has been candid about wanting to start the season with a six-man rotation. Hunter Brown, Christian Javier, Mike Burrows and Tatsuya Imai appear to be locks for four of those spots, but what about the other two?
Here’s a list of contenders to watch with just one week until the start of spring training.
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Spencer Alehti
Arrigetti started only seven games last season and played 35.1 innings. He was hit by an errant pitch during batting practice and suffered a broken thumb, which sidelined him for four months. He made five starts in August but was sidelined in September due to elbow inflammation.
The good news is that Arrigetti won’t need elbow surgery and told reporters at Saturday’s FanFest that he’s already thrown seven bullpens, which seems to mean he’s on track to start right away when spring training begins.
The 26-year-old has an 87+ ERA in his first two seasons in the majors, but if he can find a way to come close to replicating the 3.18 ERA (29% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate) he posted in the second half of 2024, the Astros will be ecstatic.
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Lance McCullers Jr.
For McCullers, the opportunity is too good to miss, and the five-year, $85 million contract extension he signed before the 2021 season has entered the final year. 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 workouts, though none were arm-related.
If you’re looking for signs of optimism for the 32-year-old in 2026, you can point to some early starts in his return. He struck out 12 while allowing three runs in six innings against the Athletics on May 28, pitched six scoreless innings six days later against the Pirates, and limited the Dodgers to one run in six innings on July 4, but he posted an 8.10 ERA in his final seven appearances.
Despite his time at Illinois, McCullers remained healthy at the end of the season, which should allow him to have a proper offseason recovery for the first time in a long time, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll rediscover the form that earned him a top-10 Cy Young spot the season before his extension began.
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Jason Alexander
Alexander claimed waivers from the Athletics in May, rescuing an Astros rotation plagued by injuries. The 32-year-old veteran had a 3.66 ERA and the Astros won 10 of his first 11 games but lost his final two.
Whether Alexander can repeat that success remains to be determined. His FIP with the Astros was higher than his ERA, and there’s a lot of blue in his Baseball Savant profile, with a large portion of that blue being dark. His 22% catch rate ranks in the bottom 1% in all of baseball. It’s a tough way to make a living.
Ryan Weiss
The Astros thought highly of Wes, who posted a 2.87 ERA and 28.6 strikeout rate in 178.2 innings in the KBO last season, so they gave him $2.6 million. Last season marked a significant 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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Wes’ fastball velocity is average, although Astros general manager Dana Brown said he was able to hit 97 mph in Korea, and his command and control — a strength in his first stint in the United States — improved in the KBO.
Whether Weiss’ progress from last season will carry over remains to be determined. He pitched parts of three A seasons with the Diamondbacks and Royals, posting a 6.72 ERA in 89.2 innings, and his numbers in Double-A weren’t much better.
AJ Blubber
Brumbaugh made his major league debut against the Tigers on April 30, allowing two runs in four innings and did not return to the majors until August, when he pitched well every time Joe Espada threw him a ball. Brumbaugh posted a 1.69 ERA in 32 innings last season, mostly in the bullpen as a long reliever.
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The 26-year-old showed average fastball velocity and relied on sweepers against right-handers, but opponents went 0-for-29 against his changeup, which he can effectively pitch to lefties and righties. While the sample size is small, Brumbaugh’s FIP is almost three points higher than his ERA, suggesting he’s had some luck, although his strikeout numbers suggest his low ERA isn’t entirely a phantom.
The biggest question going forward may be whether the Astros view Blubber as a starter. He started just three games and was never asked to change the lineup twice, and the most batters he faced in his first two major league outings was 19.
Colton Gordon
Gordon made his major league debut last season, posting a 5.34 ERA in 86 innings. The 27-year-old has one of the lowest walk rates in baseball, but he doesn’t miss a hit and allows too much hard contact. Opponents are batting .298 with a .645 slugging percentage against his four-seam fastball. According to Baseball Savant, the pitch was rated -10, while his sweeper (opponents batted .515) was rated -7.
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Unless Gordon improves his well-below-average fastball velocity, or develops another weapon, it’s hard to see Gordon surviving a major league start.
Nate Pearson
In October, a month after Pearson was waived by the Cubs, the Astros signed Pearson to a one-year, $1.35 million contract. The 29-year-old, once one of the best prospects in baseball with a 5.17 ERA in 123 major league games, has been almost entirely out of the bullpen, but an interesting revamping project for a team with a solid track record of anchor pitching.
While Pearson failed to find success in the major leagues, elite speed did not. The right-hander’s four-seam fastball averaged 97.6 mph last season and his slider produced a 37.5% strike rate in 2024. He may be positioned more as a reliever, but starters with elite speed are hot commodities, 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 Urora
Urola, rated the Astros’ top pitching prospect by MLB.com, finished 2025 with a 3.88 ERA while appearing in 28 games (23 starts) and 113.2 innings for Triple-A Sugar Land. He struck out 26.6 percent of the time, but also walked nearly 16 percent of the batters he faced. If he doesn’t throw more pitches, it’s hard to see him having sustained success at the major league level.
The good news is that his ERA dropped to 3.00 in Sugar Land, where conditions were closer to major league parks, but that didn’t limit his walk rate, which actually went up slightly.
