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HOUSTON -- Could building Lego sets have helped Astros pitcher Spencer Arrighetti rehab from a thumb injury that landed him on the injured list in April? Modern medicine and athletic trainers probably had more to do with it, but putting together Legos while his thumb healed was therapeutic for Arrighetti.
Arrighetti missed four months after he fractured his right (throwing) thumb when he was hit by a line drive while playing catch in the outfield on April 7 in Seattle. He didn’t need surgery, but he wore a cast for weeks before he could resume playing catch … or building Legos.
“Yeah, that put me on the Lego IL, just like the big league IL,” he said. “That stunk, but as soon as I got the cast off, I asked if I could play video games and do other stuff, and they said, ‘Yeah.’ Honestly, I think Legos might have helped me get more dexterity back quicker. You never know.”
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Perhaps the only thing Arrighetti has been doing longer than playing baseball is building Legos. His love affair with the colorful plastic construction toys began as a child, when his mom would give him a bucket of random Legos when she needed a break. He would spread them out on the floor or a table and let his imagination flow.
“When I was a kid, I did some of the big Star Wars ones, and those ones, I was really proud of, and I actually have no idea where they are now,” he said. “I think they're with my mom somewhere in her attic or probably in a storage unit. I have no idea, but I would like to find those at some point, put those ones on display as well.”
Even as an adult, putting together Lego sets remains a good creative outlet for Arrighetti.
“I could spend hours on end just sitting there imagining new things to build,” he said. “It was usually like spaceships or cars or something like that. I feel like it really got me passionate about something when I was a kid, and I was super ADHD, so like anything challenging or stimulating was really fun. That was my thing.”
These days, Arrighetti’s taste in Legos has become more detailed and more expensive. He now buys Lego sets that have thousands of pieces and cost hundreds of dollars.
“Legos were a big hit when I was a kid, and then I just kind of never really outgrew it, you know?” he said. “I just kept on rolling with it. Obviously, like in college and stuff, I didn't have much time or money, so I wasn't buying them, but now that I have adult money and a little more time on my hands in the offseason, it's a fun project.”
The yellow Porsche 911 GT3 RS Super Car, which has 348 pieces, and other smaller sets got Arrighetti back into Legos post-college, and he’s slowly getting bigger sets to build.
“I've gotten really back into the ones that are like more geared toward adults,” he said. “I think they realize that my generation really loved them, and we still love them to this day, and we'll still buy them. The price has gone up, but we deal with it.”
Arrighetti said he can build the smaller sets in an hour or so, but the bigger and more elaborate ones can take a couple of weeks, depending on how often he gets to work on them.
“And then once I'm done with them, I just like have a shelf, and I display all of them,” he said. “I'm pretty proud of them.”
Arrighetti said he’s not quite ready to put together the massive Hogwarts Castle from Harry Potter, which has more than 6,000 pieces. Then there’s the 7,541-piece Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, which his youth ball teammate and current Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser assembled.
“He's posted pictures of him on social media,” Arrighetti said. “I'm a little jealous of him for that, but I think I'm just going to keep rolling with the car ones for the most part. Those ones have really got me by the hook right now.”