The Astros Have Found a Diamond in the Rough With This Starting Pitcher

The Houston Astros had no idea what they were getting with Peter Lambert, but he's been nothing short of excellent. Coming off a three-hit, seven-inning shutout performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lambert turned in another quality outing.

He allowed three runs on six hits and walked just one over seven innings of work against the Seattle Mariners on Monday night. He raised his ERA to 2.76 through his first five starts, but he continued to impress out of nowhere.

After posting a 6.28 ERA over four seasons with the Colorado Rockies, Lambert was unable to sign a major or minor league contract, so he went overseas. He spent the 2025 season with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Nippon Professional Baseball league. He posted a 4.26 ERA over 116.1 innings, but wasn't retained by the club.

Out of options, he signed a minor league deal with the Astros in the hope of revitalizing his career, and he's been nothing short of shocking ever since. He began the season by posting a 1.84 ERA over 14.2 innings with Triple-A Sugar Land and was promoted out of necessity.

Houston has lost Hunter Brown, Tatsuya Imai, Christian Javier, Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski, and Brandon Walter to injury. All of these players have spent time in the rotation either this season or last, and have unwillingly and unfortunately participated in the decimation of the Astros starting pitching depth.

Peter Lambert Has Been Incredible Through Five Starts

Lambert pitched well through limited action in Triple-A, but he didn't have to do much to earn his spot in the rotation. Now, he's pitching so well it'll be difficult to take him out of it.

At this point, Lambert has the second-best ERA of any Houston Starter with more than two starts, and has limited the long ball well, something he failed to do during his stint in Colorado.

Moving forward, his next start will likely come against the Texas Rangers this weekend. This provides another test, but Lambert has passed each of them thus far. He's pitched well, and it's not been against bad teams by any means.

The five teams Lambert has faced boast a combined 107-99 entering Monday night, and he faltered just once. Once Houston's starters begin to return, it will be difficult to justify sending Lambert back down to Triple-A even though he signed a minor league deal. He's pitched well enough to retain his spot on the big league club and certainly deserves it.

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