Fringe Astros rotation candidate may have already thrown away his roster chances

If someone mentioned the name Jason Alexander, most baseball fans' minds would immediately go to the actor who played the iconic George Costanza on Seinfeld. Houston Astros fans, on the other hand, know far too well what the Jason Alexander (the pitcher) experience entails.

Alexander's MLB debut came in 2022 with the Milwaukee Brewers at the age of 29, but after an uninspiring showing, the minor league journeyman wouldn't resurface in the bigs until last year with the Athletics. After tossing just six innings for the A's, he was DFA'd in May and gobbled up by Houston following the torn UCLs suffered by Hayden Wesneski and Ronel Blanco.

As the injuries kept mounting, the Astros were forced to look in the mirror and address a myriad of issues regarding the training staff in order to prevent the need to rely on such replacement-level players due to injury tidal waves ever again.

Against all odds, Alexander posted decent results. He made 14 appearances (13 starts) for Houston with a 3.66 over 71 1/3 innings. Beneath the surface, though, it was clear that the appearance of competence was merely a mirage.

Jason Alexander has been the forgotten man in the Astros' rotation battle, and he may have just blown his chance to make some noise

The ERA Alexander posted may have been the same as what Framber Valdez turned in, but his FIP being nearly a full run higher at 4.65 tells you all you need to know.

The former Los Angeles Angels farmhand struck out a pedestrian 19.9% of batters while giving up an egregious 1.51 long balls per nine. His low velocity fastball and substandard secondaries fooled few hitters, with him recording a lowly 22.1% chase rate (first percentile) and sky-high 45.9% hard-hit rate (10th percentile).

The Astros were lucky to get what they got out of him last season, and he'd need a really impressive showing this spring to get back into the mix for a rotation spot.

In fact, Alexander is so far down the pecking order that he was omitted from our own power rankings for the final spots in Houston's rotation. That doesn't mean that the Astros are loaded with starting pitching talent either, as every starter other than Hunter Brown has serious questions that need to be answered.

Alexander got the start on Tuesday, February 24, against the New York Mets, but lasted just 2/3 of an inning. He surrendered five hits and a walk, which resulted in four earned runs, and produced a lone strikeout. He gave up a pair of home runs, one to Mike Tauchman and one to Ronny Mauricio.

That gives the 33-year-old a 54.00 ERA this spring. Fortunately, Alexander has an option remaining, so he can remain with the organization, though his chances of a rotation spot are extremely slim following the implosion to kick off the spring.

With so much competition, Alexander could ill-afford a slow start, but here we are with so many other arms, laying an egg was the last thing he needed in his quest to distinguish himself. His most-likely scenario as we hurdle towards the regular season is returning to Sugar Land in the hopes of getting a call as an injury replacement later on in the year.