The right hand Peter Lambert will start for the Astros on Friday, with The Athletic’s Chandler Rome among those to relay the update. Lambert is currently not on the roster, so he will need to be officially added before the game.
An early birthday present for Lambert, who turns 29 on Saturday. If he takes the ball, he will be making his first major league appearance for a team outside of the Rockies. Lambert made 74 appearances in Colorado from 2019 to 2024, throwing 243 2/3 innings and allowing a 6.28 earned run average.
At the end of the 2024 season, the Rockies removed Lambert from their roster and he opted for free agency. He then signed with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He pitched 116 1/3 innings over 21 starts for the Swallows with a 4.26 ERA. That may seem like a passing mark but the NPB has been a pitcher-friendly league in recent years. Last year’s league ERA was 2.97 in the Central League and 3.04 in the Pacific League, the NPB’s two major leagues.
He received a minor league deal with the Astros in November. He opted out of that deal at the end of camp but re-signed a new league deal. He threw 14 2/3 Triple-A innings this year in three appearances, allowing three earned runs on 11 hits, walking three and striking out two batters while striking out 12. In that small sample, his 20.3% strikeout rate is low but his 5.1% walk rate and 53.7% ground ball rate are solid. His four-seamer has averaged 94.5 miles per hour this year and he has also thrown a sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.
The Astros have been doing a lot to improve their pitching staff lately. Hunter Brown again Cristian Javier both went on the injured list due to shoulder strain. Not long after, Tatsuya Imai hit IL with arm fatigue, meaning Houston quickly lost three-fifths of its five Opening Day rotations. That forced them to turn to emergency plans but one of those was also bitten by the injury bug, as it puts inflammation of the spine. Cody Bolton in IL.
There’s never a good time for a team to lose four starters but the timing wasn’t particularly good in this case as the Astros started 13 straight games last Friday. Imai started the first game but went a third of the inning, forcing a shutout JP France and others to soak the rest. Lance McCullers Jr. again Mike Burrows they are still on the team for the season opener. McCullers took the ball on Saturday and Burrows on Sunday. Bolton left on Monday but only lasted one inning. Colton Gordon was brought back this week and started Tuesday, giving the club 3 2/3 innings. Spencer Arrighetti he was called up to start on Wednesday and went six.
Right now in Thursday’s competition, they have successfully made a bullpen game. Ryan Weisslongtime relief pitcher, started and went 3 2/3. Christian Roa then absorb 1 1/3, followed by two frames each from AJ Blubaugh again Kai-Wei Teng.
The Astros still have six games left before their next day. Lambert will take the ball tomorrow, followed by McCullers and Burrows. Houston may go back to Gordon and Arrighetti in the next second. The end game could also be Lambert, although he is out of options. Depending on how things go tomorrow, he may need to be delisted in order to get a new arm. If so, perhaps another bullpen game headed by Weiss would be a move, depending on who is being used at the moment.
For tomorrow, as mentioned, consistent moves will be required for Lambert to enter the lineup. The Astros have a few guys on the IL and maybe one of them could be moved to the 60-day IL to make room for the 40-man if the Astros don’t expect them anytime soon. The list of strikers currently on 15-day IL includes Brown, Javier, Imai and Bolton as well. Josh Hader, Nate Pearson again Bennett Sousa. If the club doesn’t want to lock any of these guys into the IL long term, someone else will have to be cut from the 40 man. In terms of opening up an active roster spot, most of their guys can be picked, and the McCullers, Bryan Abreu, Another De Los Santos again Steven Okert the only exception.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
