Spencer Arrighetti is Sharpening His Arsenal and Making Hitters Uncomfortable
It's just Spring Training, but Spencer Arrighetti is showing increased movement on all of his offspeed pitches. It's a sign that he is trending up.
Here is our third Orange Fire post from Jules Hughan. Follow Jules on Blue Sky at @juleshughan.bsky.social
Spencer Arrighetti Buckles Aaron Judge and Puts the League on Notice
In his second start of Sprint Training, Spencer Arrighetti wasted no time making a statement against the Yankees on Saturday, and his biggest highlight came against none other than Aaron Judge. A perfectly placed inside cutter froze Judge, buckling his knees and sending him back to the dugout looking. That is how you introduce yourself to the league.
Two innings, six batters faced, three strikeouts, no hits, and no hard contact. The numbers tell one story, but the way he did it told another. Arrighetti did not just get outs, he dominated. His stuff looked sharper, his command was dialed in, and his presence on the mound screamed confidence.
A Small but Significant Shift in His Arsenal
Arrighetti has always had electric, swing and miss stuff, and he put it all on display here. A 44.4% whiff rate, his curveball absolutely ridiculous with a 66.7% whiff rate, and a proStuff+ of 99,1 which is right around league average, but his secondaries are playing up and showing signs of becoming more effective.* That shows his raw pitch quality is already grading well above league average.
That is what you expect from a guy with his talent. The difference? His secondaries looked sharper, played up more, and completely shut hitters down.
His sweeper, curveball, and changeup all showed more movement than last season.
Sweeper: More horizontal break, increasing from 10.5 inches to 11.0. That may not seem drastic, but at his velocity, a half inch of extra break can be the difference between a barrel and a whiff.
Curveball: A tighter horizontal approach angle, which should help it tunnel better off his fastball and make it even tougher for hitters to track.
Changeup: More lateral movement, giving him an extra weapon against lefties and making it even harder to square up.
These are not massive changes, but when multiple pitches show small but consistent movement gains, it is never a fluke. Maybe it is a grip tweak, maybe it is a subtle release point adjustment, or maybe it is just a pitcher getting even more comfortable in his arsenal. These are the refinements that turn a good big league arm into a real problem for hitters.
Is This Real?
It is two innings in March, so there is no reason to overreact. But here is the key.
Arrighetti is already a locked in piece of Houston’s rotation. This is not about proving he belongs, it is about raising his ceiling.
If his secondaries are playing up even more, his fastball, which already dominates at the top of the zone, becomes even harder to square up.
The Yankees may not have had their full Opening Day lineup, but big league hitters still had no answer for him.
This was not a reinvention. This was refinement. If these movement gains hold and his stuff keeps trending in this direction, Arrighetti is not just holding a rotation spot, he is making a leap.
This is a pitcher trending up.
proStuff+ is a metric that evaluates the quality of a pitcher's arsenal based on velocity, movement, spin, and other pitch characteristics compared to league average (100). A higher number suggests better raw pitch quality and overall effectiveness.*