Injured Astros Star Clears First Significant Hurdle in Arm Surgery Recovery

The Houston Astros have leaned hard into the starting pitchers that they have, with Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown taking the lead.

But those that follow the team know the staff is beat up. Three different starters are on the 60-day injured list and two more are on the 15-day IL.

But, one of those starters on the long-term injured list has started to make just a little bit of progress toward a return, though he should not be expected to come back and save the rotation.

The good news is Cristian Javier is starting to throw the baseball again.

How Cristian Javier is Making Progress After Surgery

According to The Athletic’s Chandler Rome, Javier threw 15 pitches off a mound at the team’s facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., for the right-hander, those were his first throws off a mound since he had Tommy John surgery.

Javier started last season on a roll for Houston, as he went 3-1 in seven starts with a 3.89 ERA. But he injured his throwing arm and in June he had season-ending Tommy John surgery.

He’s coming up on the one-year anniversary of the surgery. Typically, a pitcher can return from the surgery in anywhere from 12-18 months. Javier throwing off a mound is a good sign. But he has many more benchmarks to meet before he can re-join the rotation. Whether he’s able to help at all in 2025 comes down to whether he experiences any setbacks along the way.

The Astros’ starting pitching has been a concern, in terms of depth, for quite some time. Houston welcomed back Lance McCullers Jr. recently, who had not pitched since the 2022 World Series, after suffering an arm injury.

Javier is one of two other starters who are on the 60-day injured list. One is Luis Garcia, who has been out since May of 2023 after he suffered an arm injury that led to Tommy John surgery. The hope is that he can return this season. But he was shut down at the end of spring training after an MRI revealed inflammation in his right elbow.

J.P. France missed the majority of last season after he had surgery to repair a torn right shoulder capsule. He had that surgery in July, and with a projected recovery time of 12 to 14 months, he could return last this season.

Two other starters are on the 15-day IL. The Astros just moved Hayden Wesneski to the list earlier this week after he suffered right elbow discomfort. He was being evaluated by team doctors this weekend. Spencer Arrighetti is out after he suffered a broken right thumb last month after he was hit by a line drive during batting practice.