Houston Astros Ace Remains Criminally Underrated Despite Jaw-Dropping Start

Hunter Brown has quietly been one of the best pitchers in baseball for the Houston Astros.

Apr 9, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Houston Astros starter Hunter Brown (58) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros have quietly had one of the best pitchers in baseball for a while now, but nobody seems to be talking about him.

When baseball fans think of aces and the top pitchers in the game, there probably aren't too many of them who would name Hunter Brown. Based on his numbers over the last year, however, he absolutely deserves to be in the conversation.

Since May 1, 2024, Brown has the third-lowest ERA in baseball (min. 120 innings), behind only Paul Skenes and Hunter Greene. He has the best ERA in the American League and ranks ahead of everyone else, including Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, Zack Wheeler, Chris Sale and all the rest.

Any yet, many people don't even think of him as the best pitcher on his own staff. He often takes a backseat to Framber Valdez, who's older and more established.

Hunter Brown leads American League starting pitchers in ERA dating back to May 1st of last season (min. 120 IP) 📊@Astros | #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/vRLz5OQSns

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) April 16, 2025

Part of the reason is that Brown's ascendance is still relatively recent, so many folks are still catching on to his greatness. He struggled in 2023 (5.09 ERA) and got off to a slow start last year, which ultimately made his numbers look less impressive.

For instance, after going 0-4 with a 9.78 ERA in April last season, he went 11-5 with a 2.51 ERA the rest of the way. Because of his poor start, however, he finished 11-9 with a 3.49 ERA, didn't make the All-Star team and didn't receive any Cy Young votes.

This year, however, he's off to a much better start. He picked up where he left off, going 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA, a 0.83 WHIP and an active streak of 17 scoreless innings over his first four outings.

If he keeps that up for a few more months, the 26-year-old righty is finally going to get the respect and attention he deserves.