Astros ace Hunter Brown will refrain from throwing for a few weeks after being diagnosed with a grade 2 right shoulder strain, the club announced before Tuesday night's game against the Rockies at Coors Field.
Brown was placed on the 15-day injured list for the first time in his career on Sunday, then flew to Houston to be examined by team doctors. Manager Joe Espada said Brown felt an issue with his shoulder during his routine throwing program on Friday.
Brown made his first Opening Day start March 26 against the Angels and threw 102 pitches in 4 2/3 scoreless innings. He threw six innings of one-run ball in his second start on Tuesday against the Red Sox, but was pulled after only 78 pitches. Espada said he wanted to dial back Brown’s pitch count after his heavy Opening Day workload.
“He’s never been injured and this is new for all of us,” Espada said.
The Astros are likely to call up right-hander Spencer Arrighetti from Triple-A soon, considering they’re planning to go to a six-man rotation following Thursday’s off-day before opening a four-game series in Seattle. Arrighetti threw 78 pitches in 4 1/3 scoreless innings in his start Friday for the Space Cowboys in Jacksonville, Fla.
Brown is coming off the best season of his four-year career, which earned him a third-place finish in American League Cy Young Award voting. He assumed the role of Houston’s ace, going 12-9 with a 2.43 ERA and a career-low WHIP of 1.03 in 31 starts in 2025. He struck out a career-high 206 batters in 185 1/3 innings and allowed only 133 hits and was a constant in a rotation rocked by injuries in ‘25.
Brown had the longest scoreless-innings streak in the Major Leagues last year at 28 innings, from April 3-28 -- the fifth-longest single-season streak by an Astros starter in history.
The right-hander was named the AL Pitcher of the Month last June after posting a 1.19 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP in 30 1/3 innings, with the Astros winning all five of his starts during the month. He began the season with seven consecutive quality starts.