WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Upon his arrival to camp Monday afternoon, Astros pitcher Hunter Brown was told to put his suitcase down and meet with manager Joe Espada in his office before the pitcher played catch for the first time under the Florida sun.
“I was in the building for like 20 seconds, and I was like, ‘Man, how did I manage to already upset the manager?’” Brown joked.
The message Espada delivered was one of excitement for Brown, who was informed he would be the Astros’ Opening Day starter for the first time in his career. Framber Valdez, who left in free agency for the Tigers, had started the previous four Opening Days for the Astros, but Brown will get the ball on March 26 against the Angels at Daikin Park.
“It’s really exciting,” Brown said. “It was a big deal for me, right? Your whole career, when you’re a little kid, that’s the stuff that you kind of dream about. It was an awesome meeting, for sure.”
Espada said he wanted to tell Brown early in camp he was going to be the Opening Day starter so the younger pitchers on the staff understand who’s going to lead the rotation.
“It’s high praise, and it’s a big compliment coming from Joe, but I think the way you carry yourself day in and day out and the way that you prepare kind of irons some of that stuff out,” Brown said. “I expect it of myself to be the leader, and I don’t think it’s anything surprising or anything like that.”
Brown, a fifth-round Draft pick by the Astros in 2019 out of Wayne State, broke into the Major Leagues in '22 in a clubhouse with Justin Verlander, his boyhood idol in Detroit, and Valdez, a workhorse left-hander whose 809 innings combined between the regular season and postseason since 2022 are second most in the Major Leagues (Logan Webb has 820).
“As a manager, I want to have that initial conversation with the guy and I want to see that reaction,” Espada said. “He got fired up and he’s like, ‘Joe, thank you. I will not take this for granted.’ I’ll let him speak for himself, but he was very excited. I love having moments like that with pitchers and position players to get an opportunity to lead the charge.”
Brown, 27, parlayed the best season of his four-year career into a third-place finish in the American League Cy Young Award voting last year. He assumed the role of Houston’s ace, going 12-9 with a 2.43 ERA and a career-low WHIP of 1.03 in 31 starts. He struck out a career-high 206 batters in 185 1/3 innings and allowed only 133 hits. He had eight starts in which he didn't allow an earned run.
“He’s earned this,” Espada said. “It’s been a pleasure to watch him develop into one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues, and he’s definitely our leader. I also told him being the ace comes with some responsibilities. He is the guy that’s going to get us going and people are going to be looking up to him."
Among AL starters, Brown ranked first in opponents' slugging percentage (.318), second in ERA and opponents' OPS (.589), tied for second in quality starts (21), third in strikeouts, fourth in WHIP, strikeouts per nine innings (10) and pitching wins above replacement (4.6, per FanGraphs) and fifth in opponents' batting average (.201).
The longest scoreless innings streak in the Major Leagues in 2025 belonged to Brown, who threw 28 scoreless innings from April 3-28 -- the fifth-longest single-season streak by an Astros starter in history.
Brown was named the AL Pitcher of the Month for June after posting a 1.19 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP in 30 1/3 innings, with the Astros winning all five of his starts during the month. He began the season with seven consecutive quality starts, becoming the first pitcher to do that since Shane Bieber had eight in a row with the Guardians to start the 2021 season.
Brown, a fifth-round Draft pick by the Astros in 2019 out of Wayne State, broke into the Major Leagues in '22 and has been a full-time member of Houston's pitching staff the past three seasons, making 93 appearances (90 starts) from 2023-25 and going 34-31 with a 3.59 ERA.
The ascension to ace began in the 2024 season for Brown, who overcame a slow start that nearly saw him get sent to the Minor Leagues. He was 0-4 with a 9.78 ERA in his first six starts that year before adding a sinker to his repertoire, which turned his season around. Brown went 11-5 with a 2.51 ERA in 147 innings in his final 25 games (24 starts) in ‘24, helping the Astros wipe out a 10-game deficit to win the American League West.