Josh Hader turned his season around to justify Houston’s decision to sign him

Were you a fan of the Josh Hader signing this offseason? It’s okay if you weren’t, as there were a number of mixed emotions related to signing with the former San Diego Padres. Kendall Graveman had been declared out for the season and the Astros apparently decided that strengthening the back end of the bullpen was much more important than maintaining quality depth.

The signing also moved longtime Houston reliever and playoff hero Ryan Pressly to foreign territory, as the 2024 season would see the right-hander working as the Astros’ setup man rather than the team’s closer. ‘team.

The start of this season seemed to favor those who didn’t see the value in bringing an elite closer like Hader, but lately the southpaw has started to shine and is showing the Houston faithful just how valuable he can be.

There was a lot of talk before the season about using Hader in 2024. Historically, the southpaw was only a one-inning pitcher. Hader, who went 25 innings in 2019, had not pitched more than one inning in relief since 2020.

But Hader broke that mold in 2024. The southpaw has always maintained that his one-inning tenure was the result of the arbitration process – a system Hader disagrees with – and that once he would have received a long-term contract, Hader would then be more willing to work multiple innings.

Hader has done just that this season, as he has appeared in four multi-inning games in 2024. Since his first multi-inning outing on April 30, Hader has 23 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings pitched and has a 1.26 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP. Those are the kind of numbers that justify Houston spending $95 million over five years.

Before this recent streak, Hader was the subject of a lot of criticism, and rightfully so. In his first 12 games with the Astros, Hader was 0-2 with one blown save and a 7.59 ERA. The opposition came after him, hitting nearly .300.

But Hader seems much more comfortable at this point in the season. Opposing hitters are hitting just .130 during the month of May, and Hader locked things up in the ninth inning. Hader has a 5/5 save chance and is starting to look like the best baseball player everyone knows he can be.

Hader’s performance is certainly a welcome sight for general manager Dana Brown whose seat has gotten a little cooler lately.

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