Houston Astros Have Dark Horse Candidate for AL Cy Young in Emerging Pitcher

Could a pitcher on the Houston Astros win the AL Cy Young?

Mar 5, 2025; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; Houston Astros pitcher Hunter Brown (58) throws a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. / Rich Storry-Imagn Images

With the start of the regular season almost here for the Houston Astros, the team will be hoping that they can still compete despite overhauling their roster this winter. 

The Astros had one of the busiest offseasons of any team in baseball, with the franchise seeing notable stars head to other teams. 

While some sort of change seemed inevitable this winter, the complete overhaul that the roster underwent was shocking. 

Even though the batting order is going to look very different without Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, Houston will be leaning on a great rotation coming into the campaign. 

Even though there was some chatter about possibly moving Framber Valdez as well after Tucker was dealt, the Astros hung on to their ace and have a strong young rotation behind him. 

While Valdez will be heading into the year as the top pitcher for Houston, there are some talented young arms that might push him for that title in 2025. The depth of the rotation is going to be a strength of the Astros, and if they are going to be successful, the young pitchers will have to perform well. 

However, there is one particular pitcher that might be getting ready to emerge as a star after a misleading overall campaign in 2024. 

Andrew Simon of MLB.com recently spoke about Astros starter Hunter Brown being a dark horse contender for the American League Cy Young award in 2025. 

“Sinker now in hand, Brown has a deep arsenal that keeps the ball on the ground and limits quality of contact. If he can avoid such a rough start to 2025, it’s not hard to see the 26-year-old ascending to Cy Young candidate status in his third full season.”

After making a couple of adjustments, with the sinker being added to the repertoire, most notably, Brown had an excellent year for Houston. 

Overall, the 26-year-old totaled a 11-9 record and 3.49 ERA with 179 strikeouts. However, in the second half of the year, he totaled a 2.26 ERA in 12 starts. 

Those are some elite numbers in a significant sample size after the All-Star break for the young right-hander. 

If that is the type of pitcher he is becoming, the Astros might have a new ace and a star on their hands. 

Furthermore, the 2.26 ERA would put Brown in the conversation for the AL Cy Young award if he was able to do that over the course of an entire season. 

While it might seem like the award is Tarik Skubal’s to lose, a pitcher like Brown putting together a full year of what he did in the second half could be a legitimate challenge to the reigning Cy Young. 

The 26-year-old certainly seems like a dark horse to contend for the award, and that is great news for the Astros. 

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