Houston Astros Pitching Shockingly Emerges as Top-5 MLB Unit This Season

The Houston Astros offense has certainly turned a corner as of late and started contributing to a lot of winning, but it's really the pitching staff that has led to this team changing courses.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller recently updated their pitching staff power rankings for across the league and the Astros skyrocketed up to No. 3 on the list after being No. 7 last month.

It seems as though their staff is firing on all cylinders and it has led them to the top of the AL West once again.

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The starting rotation was expected to be led by Framber Valdez this year, but it has been Hunter Brown that has become one of the hottest names in the sport.

Through Brown's first 14 starts of the year, he has maintained an AL-best 1.88 ERA with a 0.930 WHIP and 11.0 K/9. His 212 ERA+ and 5.7 H/9 also lead the American League.

As the season continues to progress, he looks more and more like a legitimate candidate for the 2025 AL Cy Young Award. There are few pitchers hurling it like him this season.

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Similar to last year, Valdez had a slower start to the year, but he has had an incredible stretch and looks elite again.

The real reason that the staff has shot up in recent weeks though is that the back half of the rotation has looked solid for the last month as well.

Surprising performances from players like Ryan Gusto, Brandon Walter and Jason Alexander have kept the team afloat through another year of injury troubles.

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The bullpen has actually struggled a little bit in the last month, but they've had some fantastic pitchers to even out those that have had a rough go of things.

Josh Hader, Shawn Dubin and Bennett Sousa have all pitched well recently. Bryan King and Kaleb Ort have not had the same success, but will stick around.

Hader looking like himself this season has been a massive win for Houston. They signed him to a historic closer contract and then he flubbed his first year.

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There were flashes in 2024, but he has been elite for all of 2025. He has a 1.45 ERA through his first 29 appearances with 18 saves and a 0.742 WHIP.

Sousa has maybe been the biggest surprise, though, with a 1.69 ERA over his first 21 outings with a 0.863 WHIP and 11.1 K/9.

The Astros claimed him off of waivers back in September of 2023 and then he missed all of last year. The 30-year-old has saved his career with an elite start to the campaign.

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