Houston Astros Could Have Multiple AL Cy Young Candidates On Their Roster

Will the Houston Astros have two AL Cy Young candidates this season?

Nick Ziegler | Mar 20, 2025

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

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Houston Astros

With the start of the regular season nearly here for the Houston Astros, the franchise will be focused on trying to compete in 2025.

It was an extremely busy winter for the Astros, and now the team will finally be able to turn their attention back to matters on the field.

There will be a lot of new faces for the team, especially in the batting order, but there is still talent on the roster.

While some of the new players will have to prove themselves in the lineup, Houston will have one of the better starting rotations in the American League.

Even though there were some rumblings about potentially moving their ace, Framber Valdez, after they traded Kyle Tucker, the team ultimately held on to the talented southpaw.

It’s hard to predict what type of team they will be in 2025 with all the turnover on the roster, but the starting rotation is largely intact from last year.

Now, while they now they have their ace for at least one more year barring a trade, they will be hoping that some of the other talented young arms in the rotation continue to develop.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently spoke about Astros pitcher Hunter Brown being an underrated player who is set to burst on to the scene in 2025.

“If Brown does succeed in leveling out his platoon splits, he's another guy who could get in the mix for the AL Cy Young Award.”

When looking at Brown’s overall numbers in 2024, it’s easy to see why he flew under the radar last season. Overall, he totaled a 11-9 record, 3.49 ERA, and 179 strikeouts.

While those are very strong overall numbers, they don’t tell the whole story. In his first nine starts, the right-hander had a 7.71 ERA. However, as shown by the overall numbers being far better than that, he really picked it up a couple of months into the campaign.

Excluding the first nine starts, the 26-year-old was extremely impressive and would have been in the AL Cy Young conversation.

Coming into 2025, Brown will have to try and avoid the slow start that cost him an All-Star appearance and a lot more recognition.

For the Astros, they will certainly be relying on the young right-hander to continue to improve, and they hope he can be a Cy Young candidate.

Houston is going to be a team that relies heavily on the starting rotation for success in 2025, and Brown will play a pivotal role in that. With Valdez and their young right-hander, they might have two aces at the top of the rotation.

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