Astros starter facing notable absence due to shoulder injury

Astros right-hander J.P. France is dealing with a shoulder injury and will be out “a while,” per reporting from Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Rome adds in a post on X that manager Joe Espada told SportsTalk 790 that France has been shut down with “right shoulder soreness” and will be sent for more testing. The righty dealt with a shoulder issue during spring training but got over it in time to make the Opening Day roster, making five starts before being optioned to Triple-A at the end of April.

An injury to a starter on an optional assignment wouldn’t always be a big deal, but there are a few reasons why it would be concerning for the Astros right now. The club is out to a rough 12-22 start, making it feel like their season is in peril. Houston has a very strong track record in the recent past, and it’s still early here in 2024, but they will need a run of victories at some point to gain ground in the playoff race.

In addition, the next part of their schedule will be tough. Tuesday marks the start of a period where they play 29 games in 30 days, a challenging enough stretch that the club is likely to use a six-man rotation.

The starting staff has been a juggling act all year. They knew coming into the season that Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia would miss significant time as each underwent elbow surgery last year. On top of that, Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and José Urquidy have spent time on the injured list.

Verlander and Valdez have since returned and are currently active. The other three rotation spots are currently held by Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti. Blanco has pitched very well, even throwing a no-hitter against the Blue Jays last month, but Brown and Arrighetti have faced significant struggles. Brown has an 8.89 earned run average through his seven starts while Arrighetti has a mark of 8.27 through his four outings.

Javier is expected to be activated from the IL soon, perhaps as soon as this weekend, to give the club six starters. France could have been an option to replace Brown or Arrighetti, but this injury could force the Astros to stick with those two.

Urquidy is nearing a rehab assignment but would likely need at least a few weeks to build up since he’s missed the entire season so far. Pitchers like Brandon Bielak and Shawn Dubin have some starting experience but are currently in the big league bullpen and not stretched out. Blair Henley is on the 40-man but his one major league start was disastrous, allowing five earned runs while recording just one out, while his Triple-A numbers aren’t great either.

One surprising name that could enter the mix is A.J. Blubaugh, as Rome reports that the right-hander has “opened eyes” after his recent promotion to Triple-A. A seventh-round pick from the 2022 draft, Blubaugh has recently made five Triple-A starts with a 4.43 ERA, 24.2% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. He’s not currently on the 40-man roster.

How the club decides to tackle its rotation challenges will be an interesting situation to monitor over the next month as it navigates this tricky patch of its schedule. For France, personally, it would be quite unfortunate timing for him if the injury turns out to be significant beyond the obvious frustrations. Since he was optioned to the minors a few weeks ago, he’s not currently accruing major league pay or service time.

France came into 2024 with 149 days of service time, just 23 shy of the 172 required for a full year. He spent 28 days on the active roster to start this season before getting optioned, meaning he barely eclipsed that one-year line. But if he were to languish in the minors while injured for a while, it would hurt his chances of reaching arbitration and free agency in the future. If he is set to miss significant time and the Astros want to use his 40-man roster spot, they could recall him and place him on the major league 60-day injured list, which would start his service clock running again.