Houston Astros Ace Hunter Brown Leads Team in bWAR After Breakout Season

It was finally the year that Houston had been waiting for Brown to have as a former top prospect. The right-hander was near the top of the league in nearly every statistic, making his first All-Star game and likely winding up as a Cy Young finalist.

In a career season, Brown tossed 185.1 innings with a 2.43 ERA, 1.025 WHIP and 206 strikeouts. His ERA was the third best in baseball, and he was seventh in strikeouts. His 6.1 bWAR was the fifth highest among all pitchers.

Brown grew a lot last season, but put himself in the franchise record books with his 2025 performance. With the likely departure of Framber Valdez in the upcoming offseason, Brown is now the Astros' bonafide ace. He is one of the premier strikeout pitchers in the came and at 27-year-old, has the chance to get even better.

Jeremy Peña, 5.6 bWAR

It was a career year for the franchise's shortstop, despite playing just 125 games due to injury. It was his career high in bWAR, and his 132 OPS+ was 30 points higher than his previous best mark. An All-Star for the first time, he finally put it all together at the plate.

Peña hit .304 with 30 doubles, 17 homers and 62 RBIs. He also stole 20 bases, and was well on track to have a 20-20 season before the injury. Encouragingly, his strikeout percentage stayed the exacts same (17.1%), but he walked (6.4%) double the amount that he did in 2024 (3.8%). The young shortstop improved in every aspect of the game.

As one of the best defensive shortstops in the game, he could really put himself in the conversation with the best at the position if the offensive breakout is real. Over an entire season, Peña becoming one of the team's best hitters would be a huge development.

As their old, World Series winning cores have slowly dissvoled, Peña is the next future of the franchise.

Framber Valdez, 3.8 bWAR

In what was likely his final season in Houston, Framber Valdez did what he does best: throw innings and get outs.

The left-hander threw 192 innings with a 3.66 ERA in 31 games, including two complete games. He has now thrown 190 or more innings in three of the last four years and has become one of the most reliable lefties in all of baseball.

Valdez struck out 187 batters and had a 1.245 WHIP with a 114 ERA+. It was his highest WHIP since 2021 and the worst ERA+ among his full seasons as a starter. Even though it was a down year compared to his standards, Valdez was still well above league average as a starter.

He will be 32-years-old next season, but will still likely get a long term deal with more than $100 million. It was his second best season by bWAR in his career, which is a good way to start you free agency bid.

Yainer Diaz, 2.7 bWAR

Diaz broke out as one of the best young offensive catchers in baseball in 2023, but has taken a step back over the following seasons. Still one of the better hitting catchers in baseball, it was the worst season of his short career by bWAR.

In 143 games, Diaz hit .256 with 25 doubles, 20 home runs and 70 RBIs. His .701 OPS and 92 OPS+ were the worst marks of his career. Despite all of that, he was still near the top in many offensive numbers at the catching position.

He was one of just seven catchers to hit more than 20 home runs and, among those seven, had the lowest strikeout rate of any of them (16.8%). Conversely, though, he had the lowest walk percentage at 3.5 percent.

It remains to be seen how long he'll stick at catcher, given he's not a particularly stout defender. Houston has prospect Walker Janek on the way, so they may want to figure out a way to get Diaz's bat in the lineup in a different manner.

Bryan Abreu, 2.6 bWAR

Once again, Bryan Abreu was one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. For the third year in a row, he pitched in 70 or more games and even set a career high with seven saves.

Abreu allowed just 18 runs, a 2.28 ERA, and struck out 105 batters in 71 innings, good for a 13.3 K/9. He had the second most strikeouts among all relievers. It's pretty rare for a non-closer reliever to accumulate more than 2.0 bWAR, but Abreu has done it twice in his career.

The right-hander continues to be one of the best set-up men in the game and proved it with arguably the best season of his career. Next season, he and Hader will continue to be one of the most formidable end of the bullpen tandems.

If Abreu continues on this trajectory, he will make a lot of money when he becomes a free agent in a couple years.