If Kai-Wei Teng wants to stick in the Astros rotation, he is going to have to make this big change

The Houston Astros are desperate for a solution to fix their starting rotation, and in doing so, they're trying to rob Peter to pay Paul by taking lights-out reliever Kai-Wei Teng and turning him into a productive starting pitcher. Teng, who had previously made seven of his 12 career appearances as a starter before 2026, was no shoo-in to make the Opening Day roster, but his hot spring earned him a bullpen role.

While he was open to anything that would help the Astros win, he made it known in the spring that his preference was to start. Now, he's getting that opportunity. The 27-year-old made his first start of the year on April 28 against the Baltimore Orioles, going just three innings while allowing five hits and two earned runs.

After returning to the bullpen for a few games, Teng is now back in the rotation, this time hoping to stay for the long haul. His second start, on May 10 against the Cincinnati Reds, had some good and some bad.

"It’s going to take some more outings, getting him to throw that 70-, 80-pitch mark if we want to go that far,” Joe Espada said. “The way he threw the ball today was better than his outing when he started in Baltimore.”

Teng got through the lineup the first time with no trouble, allowing just one hit and one walk through the first three innings. However, when he trotted out to begin the bottom of the fourth, he faced the heart of the Reds' lineup for the second time and got jumped. Elly De La Cruz led off with a single. Sal Stewart followed with a double. JJ Bleday plated two with a triple. And finally, Tyler Stephenson drove in the third run of the inning with a single. With that, AJ Blubaugh was in to relieve a shellshocked Teng, who couldn't record an out.

Kai-Wei Teng could be an Astros rotation solution, but he'll have to fix his changeup

Throughout his appearances both as a starter and a reliever, Teng has been a beast against right-handed hitters this season. He's held same-handed hitters to a razor-thin .170/.250/.191 line, thanks in large part to his devastating sweeper, which he goes to more often than any other pitch with a 37% utilization.

The flip side is that lefties have hit .250/.308/.521 against him. A big reason why is that, although he can back leg his sweeper to keep them off balance, if he misses that pitch could be in the lefty happy zone down and in.

Teng has four other pitches -- fastball, sinker, curveball, and changeup -- and he'll need them in order to neutralize lefties the second time through the lineup. The changeup is key to keeping these hitters off balance, but therein lies the problem.

Teng throws his changeup just eight percent of the time, in large part because it has produced a negative-three run value while yielding a .364 batting average and an eye-popping .818 slugging percentage.

Going back to his start against the Reds, it was the lefties in De La Cruz and Bleday who truly feasted on him because he wasn't able to show them a different look that was threatening. Therefore, it's imperative that he figures out a way to improve his changeup's effectiveness.

If he can do that, you can actually squint and see a good rotation in Houston. Spencer Arrighetti has continued to be a stud. Hunter Brown should begin a rehab assignment soon. Tatsuya Imai is returning now.

Brown and Arrighetti could form a solid one-two punch, and if Teng can clean up his changeup and Imai can pitch to expectations, the Astros could actually have four quality starters. If that happens, suddenly things will start to look up.

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