Houston Astros: Corpus Christi Player Spotlight – Rogelio Armenteros

Starting pitching has been a struggle for the upper levels of the minors for the Astros this season.

While the search for a potential Mike Fiers replacement continues, the Corpus Christi Hooks have two good pitching prospects that have struggled in Kent Emanuel and Trent Thornton. However, other pitchers outside of the top 30 prospects for the Astros have stepped up to potentially find their way to Houston in the future. One of these pitchers is Rogelio Armenteros, and he is the player spotlight this week.

The Stats

Rogelio Armenteros has been under the radar for the Astros since he was signed by the team in 2014. The Cuban-born player is in his third year and continues to show why he will be a good starting pitcher in the majors. Armenteros has had an ERA under 3.70 each year of his career so far and completely dominated in Quad Cities. During his short stint there his first season, he had 21 strikeouts in 17 innings and a 0.94 WHIP. He made it to Corpus Christi last season and has played extremely well with similar numbers to those in Quad Cities.

This season, Armenteros has played in 6 games, 5 of them starts, and has a 1.61 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 28 innings. He has provided solid starting pitching when the organization needed it most.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Rogelio Armenteros is the definition of a strikeout pitcher. So far in his career, he already has 238 strikeouts in 216.1 innings and it looks like he is not slowing down. He also has a few relief appearances and even a save in his career so a move to the bullpen might be in his major league future. There are not too many weaknesses to this prospect, he is a solid pitcher for the Hooks and time will tell with how he continues to improve as he gets older.

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Future

Rogelio Armenteros is still young at 22 years old and already shows signs of being a great pitcher for the Astros someday. Though it is doubtful that he will help the team this year or even the next, should the team need a starter in the future, Armenteros could definitely be the guy to fill that void.

**Statistics courtesy of MiLB.com**