A local product, Arrighetti attended Cinco Ranch High School in the Houston suburb of Katy...while at Cinco Ranch, was a two-time unanimous First Team All-District pitcher...earned First Team All-State honors as a senior...went undrafted out of high school...Though he went to high school in the Houston area, Arrighetti was born and spent most of his childhood in Albuquerque, N.M., the same hometown as former Astros third baseman Alex Bregman...Arrighetti has cited Bregman as a role model, being someone who was a collegiate star and reached the Majors from a region not known for producing pro baseball players...Arrighetti played on the travel ball circuit with Alex’s younger brother, A.J., with Alex sometimes serving as their team’s first-base coach...Coincidentally, Arrighetti was in Albuquerque with the Triple A Sugar Land Space Cowboys, ready to make his first-ever start at Isotopes Park where he grew up watching Minor League games, when he got the call he’d be making his MLB debut on April 10, 2024 in Kansas City...Arrighetti never made the start in Albuquerque and was on a plane to make his MLB debut mere hours after he had landed in New Mexico...Began his collegiate career at TCU, making 16 appearances and fanning 19 batters in 17 innings pitched as a freshman...transferred to Navarro Junior College for his sophomore year, where he made four starts and owned a 2-2 record with a 4.26 ERA...tallied 19 innings pitched on the bump and recorded the most strikeouts (30) and highest K/9 (14.21) on the team...transferred to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he pitched one season (2021)...starred as a Ragin’ Cajun, going 7-6 with a 3.12 ERA (29 ER/83.2 IP) in 16 games (13 starts)...Selected by the Astros in the sixth round of the 2021 draft...signed by Astros scout Landon Townsley...As expected, Spencer is of Italian heritage, and has been associated with spaghetti pasta his entire life, which is a meal he does enjoy...at Double A Corpus Christi in 2023, his teammates produced shirts with a stick figure of Arrighetti pitching next to the text “Spaghetti of Meatballs”...the crew wore the shirt for every start made by Spencer...the infamous drawing was inspired after playing a Pictionary-type game with his teammates on their phones...Has accrued exactly two years of service time...is signed to a Major League contract for 2026.
2025
Had an injury-plagued season in which he made just seven starts, going 1-5 with a 5.35 ERA (21 ER/35.1 IP)...allowed just a .229 opponent average, but struggled with walks, issuing 20 free passes in 35.1 innings...Posted a 2.08 ERA (four ER/17.1 IP) in his three home starts, allowing just three hits in those outings for a 0.56 opponent average (3-for-54)...Made the Astros Opening Day roster, the first of his career, and started the Astros third game of the season on March 29 vs. NYM (one ER/ sixIP)...earned the win, which proved to be his only win of the season...Made two starts to open the year before being placed on the IL on April 7 with a broken right thumb...was struck on the hand by a batted ball during BP in Seattle...missed 103 team games...Returned in August to make five starts in the month (0-4, 5.26 ERA)...had the best outing in his final start of the season on Aug. 30 vs. LAA (one ER/6.1IP). Placed on the IL again on Aug. 31 with right elbow inflammation and did not make another appearance on the season...Made three Minor League starts on his way back from injury, posting a 5.73 ERA (seven ER/11IP) at the Double A (two G) and Triple A levels (one G).
2024
Was thrust into the Astros rotation in mid-April and went 7-13 with a 4.53 ERA (73ER/145IP) and 179 strikeouts through 29 appearances (28 starts) in his rookie season...Among AL rookies, finished tied for first in strikeouts (171), first in SO/9IP (10.61), tied for first in quality starts (10), tied for second in appearances, third in wins, third in innings pitched and fifth in Pitching WAR by STATS (1.4)...ranked fifth among all AL starters in SO/9 IP (min. 125 IP)...His 171 strikeouts were the third-most by a rookie in franchise history...trailed only RHP Hunter Brown (178 in 2023) and RHP Tom Griffin (200 in 1969)...his 10.61 SO/9 was the best by a rookie pitcher in franchise history (min. 125IP)...Posted four starts with 10-plus strikeouts, tied for second-most by an Astros pitcher in their first 30 career games (RHP Tom Griffin - 7 in 1969; RHP Don Wilson - 4 in 1967)...Was named the AL August Rookie of the Month...became the first Astro to win a Rookie of the Month Award since OF Yordan Alvarez in August 2019...was the first Astros pitcher to win the award since RHP Colin McHugh in September 2014...went 3-2 and posted a 1.95 ERA (7ER/32.1IP), a .168 opponent batting average (19-for-113) and struck out 47 batters in his five starts during the month...Per STATS, he became the second rookie in the Modern Era (since 1901) to record at least 47 strikeouts while allowing 19 or fewer hits in a calendar month joining CHC RHP Kerry Wood, who did so in May 1998 (60 strikeouts, 19 hits)...Made his MLB debut on April 10 at KC...struck out the first two batters he faced, including IF Bobby Witt Jr., who was his first career strikeout...allowed seven runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts through three innings in his debut...Earned his first Major League win on May 13 vs. OAK...tossed five innings while allowing two runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in a 9-2 victory...Recorded his first quality start and first scoreless outing on May 30 at SEA...hurled six shutout innings and allowed just two hits and three walks with eight strikeouts...Logged his 100th career strikeout in just his 19th career outing on July 28 vs. LAD...became the fifth pitcher in Astros history to record 100 strikeouts through their first 19 career appearances, with RHP Hunter Brown the last to do so (101 strikeouts through his first 19 appearances)...Notched 12 strikeouts on Aug. 5 vs. TB and followed that with 13 strikeouts on Aug. 10 at BOS, becoming the first rookie in AL history to log 12-plus strikeouts in consecutive starts (source: STATS)...was one of six Astros ever to tally 12-plus strikeouts in back-to-back starts, joining RHP Cristian Javier...His 13 strikeouts on Aug. 10 at BOS marked the second-highest single-game strikeout total by an Astros rookie, behind only a 15-strikeout effort by RHP J.R. Richard in his MLB debut on Sept. 5, 1971...Carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning on Aug. 28 at PHI...ended his outing with 7.2 scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts...was the longest outing of his career and was the second-longest no-hit bid by a rookie in Astros history, trailing only RHP Don Wilson’s completed no-hitter on June 19, 1967 vs. ATL...Got the Opening Day nod for Triple-A Sugar Land and recorded a 2.16 ERA (2ER/8.1IP) with 10 strikeouts and a .233 opponent batting average (7x30) through two starts before being promoted to the big league club on April 10...made two MLB starts before being optioned back to Triple-A on April 16...was recalled on April 21 and spent the rest of the year with the big league club...Was ranked as the Astros’ top pitching prospect and No. 3 overall prospect by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline entering the 2024 season.
2023
Was named the Astros 2023 Minor League Pitcher of the Year and a MiLB.com Organizational All-Star after combining to go 9-7 with a 4.40 ERA (61ER/124.2IP) in 28 games (21 starts)...Posted 141 strikeouts in his 124.2 innings on the season...Began his season at Double A, where he made his first 13 appearances (eight starts)...Had a slow start to the season, posting an 11.05 ERA (18ER/14.2IP) in his first four appearances...Recovered to dominate in May, going 4-0 with a 0.67 ERA (2ER/27IP) in five games (three starts)...Named the Astros Minor League Pitcher of the Month for May...Racked up 79 strikeouts in his 60.2 innings before a promotion to Triple-A in late June...Finished his season at Triple-A, making 15 appearances...He was especially great at home for the Space Cowboys, pitching to a 1.93 ERA in nine appearances (eight starts), giving up just nine total runs in 42.0 frames of work...Overall on the season, Arrighetti finished second in the Astros system in wins, third in strikeouts, innings pitched, batting average against (.217) and games started (21), fourth in WHIP (1.25) and sixth in ERA.
2022
Split his 2022 season between Corpus Christi (5g/4gs) and Class A Asheville (22g/13gs)... combined to go 7-6 with a 4.73 ERA (56ER/106.2IP) on the season...led all Astros minor leaguers with 152 strikeouts in just 106.2 innings of work.
2021
Began his professional career in 2021 with the FCL Astros, making two appearances...promoted to Class A Fayetteville for his final four appearances of the season.
