Astros: Rogelio Armenteros called up, Derek Fisher sent down

The Houston Astros have promoted pitcher Rogelio Armenteros to the Majors and sent Derek Fisher back to Round Rock to make roster room.

Armenteros is already on the Astros‘ 40-man roster and will be called upon to give the bullpen a much-needed break. Houston has been involved in five extra-inning games out of the last ten and three of the past six. Two of the recent ones were 14 inning marathons.

The bullpen has been under a heavy workload as of late and they have just one day off in the 16 games remaining in June. Taking all of this under consideration, according to Jake Kaplan of The Athletic, Rogelio Armenteros will be the one to called in to help ease the load.

Derek Fisher is being sent back down to the Round Rock Express, Houston’s AAA affiliate. He has played in 17 games with the Astros this season and carries a .226/.317/.358 slash line with an OPS of .675. He has contributed five RBIs and nine runs scored in his stint here in Houston and also added four stolen bases.

With the pending return of George Springer and the new addition of Yordan Alvarez, Fisher’s days in the Big Leagues may have been numbered anyway.

Armenteros has appeared in eleven games for the Express and has a win-loss record of 3-4. In his 45 innings of work, he has 49 strikeouts for a 9.8 SO/9 IP ratio against only 18 walks. The slash line of opposing teams is .271/.333/.480.

The 24-year-old is the 22nd ranked prospect in the Astros’ system, moving up two spots. He has a decent repertoire of pitches in his arsenal, including a sinking two-seam fastball that will average 88-90 MPH and a four-seamer in the 90-92 range. He compliments that with a deceptive changeup, mixing in a slider/cutter and curveball.

This is just one personnel move of many to come in these next few weeks. Max Stassi begins his rehab assignment today and Jose Altuve and George Springer aren’t too far behind him. So fasten your seat belt, it’s going to be a bumpy ride of player movement.