Houston Astros Dominant Closer Predicted To Receive Incredible Accolade This Season

The Houston Astros have struggled to consistently score runs thus far in the 2025 MLB regular season, limiting their ability to string together victories.

They are below the league average in most offensive categories thus far with several players falling woefully short of expectations. Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez is one of six starters who have an OPS+ under 100.

The team’s biggest free agent splash, first baseman Christian Walker, has struggled to start his tenure with a new team. Catcher Yainer Diaz is taking some time to warm up as well.

Despite the offensive struggles, the Astros are still over the .500 mark at 17-16, in large part because of the performance of their pitching staff.

Houston may not be able to build many big leads, but when they are able to get ahead of their opponent, their bullpen has gotten the job shutting things down and holding onto wins.

Anchoring that staff as the last line of defense is closer Josh Hader.

He signed a massive five-year, $95 million deal with the team ahead of the 2024 campaign. His performance was solid enough with 34 saves and a 3.80 ERA, but he wasn’t anywhere near as dominant as he had been in years past.

Hader was arguably the best reliever in baseball in 2023 with the San Diego Padres, earning a trip to the All-Star game while finishing the season with a 1.28 ERA and 33 saves, striking out 85 batters in 56.1 innings.

Thus far in 2025, he is closer to the form he showed in 2023, which has Houston and their fans ecstatic.

His performance has not gone unnoticed, as shared in a recent piece by Jason Foster of MLB.com.

He was part of a panel of voters who made predictions for the All-MLB Teams through the first month of the season. The Astros' star reliever made the cut, being selected to the First Team alongside Mason Miller of the Athletics.

On the second team were Andres Munoz of the Seattle Mariners and Robert Suarez of the Padres. They beat out Justin Martinez of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Felix Bautista of the Baltimore Orioles and Jeff Hoffman of the Toronto Blue Jays, who also received votes.

Hader’s inclusion on the first team is warranted with his performance thus far.

He has made 13 appearances, finishing 12 games and recording eight saves. In his 15 innings of work he has 20 strikeouts, which comes out to a 12.0 K/9 ratio, which would be the lowest single-season mark of his career.

It is a worthwhile change in his performance if his walk and home run rates remain where they are. Both of those numbers would be career bests as well if he stays on this pace with a 0.6 HR/9 and 1.8 BB/9.

How he gets the job done isn’t overly important as long as he keeps shutting the door on opponents at the end of games.

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