Graduated from Old Mill Senior High School in Millersville, Md., just outside of Baltimore...Went on to be drafted by the Orioles, who he grew up rooting for, in the 19th round of the 2012 draft...After just a year and a half in the Orioles' system, was traded to Houston, along with OF L.J. Hoes and a Competitive Balance Round A pick, in exchange for RHP Bud Norris, on July 31, 2013...The Astros used the comp pick on OF Derek Fisher...The Astros were in the middle of a rebuild at the time of acquiring Hader, who joined a talented group in the club’s farm system...In 2015, at Double-A Corpus Christi, Hader played alongside future Major League All-Stars SS Carlos Correa, RHP Chris Devenski, OF Teoscar Hernández, RHP Lance McCullers Jr. and RHP Joe Musgrove...That team dominated with an 89-51 record and a Texas League South Division title...While pitching at Corpus Christi, Hader met his future wife, Maria...The couple now has one son, Lucas, who was born in June 2022...Hader spent two years with the Astros before he was part of another deadline move, going to the Brewers along with RHP Adrian Houser, OF Brett Phillips and OF Domingo Santana in exchange for OF Carlos Gomez, RHP Mike Fiers and cash, on July 30, 2015...Meanwhile, Hader blossomed into one of the best relievers in the game after his acquisition by the Brewers...He spent parts of six Major League seasons in Milwaukee before being traded again at the trading deadline to San Diego on Aug. 1, 2022...The Brewers acquired four players in exchange for Hader...After spending the 2023 season in San Diego, Hader reached free agency and signed a five-year contract with the Astros on Jan. 22, 2024...The deal will keep him in an Astros uniform through the 2028 season...Josh and his wife, Maria, held a holiday toy drive through his Hader’s Heart charity in December of this offseason outside of Union Station at Daikin Park...The toy drive benefitted Be A Resource Houston (BEAR), which offers services and tools for abused and neglected children to help provide for a successful future...As part of Hader’s Heart, Josh and Maria also hosted a group of kids from BEAR at an Astros home game once a month throughout the 2024 season, providing the group a chance to meet Josh and Maria, watch batting practice on the field and meet/get autographs from Astros players.
2024
Completed his first season with the Astros and went 8-8 with 34 saves, a 3.80 ERA (30 ER/71 IP), 105 strikeouts, a 0.096 WHIP, a .171 opponents' batting average and 13.3 strikeouts per 9.0 IP...Led MLB relievers in strikeouts, becoming the first Astros reliever to do since RHP Brad Lidge led MLB relievers with 103 strikeouts in 2005...Among AL relievers, ranked second in saves, tied for second in wins and fourth in strikeouts per 9.0 innings...His 105 strikeouts were tied for the sixth-most in a single season from an Astros reliever, and were the most since RHP Brad Lidge logged 157 strikeouts in 2004...His eight wins were the most from an Astros reliever since RHP Chris Devenski also recorded eight wins in 2017...Set the Astros single-season record by converting 29 consecutive save opportunities from April 7-Aug. 29...Surpassed the previous record of 24 consecutive saves from RHP Brad Lidge in 2005...Was the second-longest saves streak in the AL in 2024, behind only a 34-save streak from RHP Emmanuel Clase...Was named the AL Reliever of the Month for August, giving him his sixth career Reliever of the Month honor...Went 3-1 with eight saves, a 0.68 ERA (one ER/13.1 IP), a .071 opponents' batting average (3-for-42), a 0.60 WHIP and 17 strikeouts through 13 appearances during the month...Made seven multi-inning relief appearances on the year, including four appearances of at least 2.0 innings...Prior to 2024, he had not made a multi-inning appearance since 2020 while with MIL...The Astros went 7-0 in games he pitched multiple innings in 2024...Held left-handed hitters to a .125 batting average (6-for-48) and a .376 OPS, striking out 23 of 53 lefthanded batters faced...Did not surrender a home run to a left-handed hitter and allowed just two extra-base hits...His .125 opponents' batting average vs. left-handed hitters ranked fifth among AL pitchers (min. 50 batters faced)...After recording a 6.39 ERA (nine ER/12.2 IP) through his first 13 appearances of the season, he rebounded well by posting a 1.35 ERA (two ER/13.1 IP) through 11 appearances in May...Struck out the first five batters he faced as a member of the Astros, coming in outings from March 28-30 vs. NYY...Became the first pitcher in Astros history to strike out the first five batters he faced as a member of the club, surpassing the previous record of four consecutive strikeouts from LHP Frank DiPino in 1982...Picked up the winning decision on April 30 vs. CLE, tossing 2.0 innings while allowing one unearned run with four strikeouts in the Astros’ 10-9 win...Marked his first appearance of 2.0-plus innings since he also pitching 2.0 innings on Sept. 7, 2019 vs. CHC while with MIL...Recorded a save on May 17 vs. MIL, giving him a save against all 30 MLB clubs...Per Elias, he became the 19th pitcher in MLB history to record saves against all 30 MLB franchises and the fifth active pitcher to do so, joining Kenley Jansen, Edwin Díaz, Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman...Notched a four-out save by tossing 1.1 perfect innings of relief with three strikeouts on Sept. 24 vs. SEA in the Astros’ AL-West-clinching victory over the Mariners...Was a member of his seventh career Opening Day roster and his first with the Astros...Made his Astros postseason debut with a scoreless 1.0 inning in Game 1 of the ALWC vs. DET...Surrendered one run on three hits with two walks in Game 2 of the ALWC, also allowing two inherited runners to score.
2023
In his first full season with the Padres, he went 2-3 with a 1.28 ERA (8ER/56.1IP), 1.101 WHIP and .163 opponent batting average, matching his career high with 61 appearances...Ranked second in the NL in ERA, second in strikeouts-per-nine-innings (13.6), fourth in opponent OPS (.508) and tied for fifth in saves...Posted the third-lowest ERA by a reliever in San Diego history (min. 50 IP), trailing only RHP Cla Meridith (1.07 ERA in 2006) and RHP Kirby Yates (1.19 ERA in 2009)...Was selected as an All-Star for the fifth time in his career...tossed a scoreless inning of relief in the contest...Converted all 10 of his save opportunities and owned a 0.69 ERA (1ER/13IP) through 13 April appearances, earning him NL Reliever of the Month honors...Led the Majors with a 0.31 ERA (1ER/29IP) at home (min. 30 IP)...was the second-lowest home ERA in the Majors in a single season since 2017, trailing only Baltimore LHP Cionel Perez (0.26 ERA in 2022)...Record reverse split, holding right-handed hitters to a .146 batting average (23x157) while lefthanded hitters batted .231 (9x39)...Logged a career-best 36.5-percent ground ball rate...Was scoreless in 52 of his 61 appearances on the year and did not surrender an earned run in 55 of his 61 outings...Had a 0.82 ERA (2 ER, 22.0 IP), 0.73 WHIP and .096 opponent batting average, also converting 13 of his 15 save opportunities, across his first 22 appearances from April 1-May 26..Per Baseball Savant, he ranked in the 90th percentile or greater in the following metrics among Major League pitchers: xBA (100th percentile, .156), xERA (99th, 2.36), K % (99th, 36.8%), hard-hit% (97th, 28.3%), chase % (92nd, 33.6%), barrel % (92nd, 4.4%) and whiff % (91st, 33.1%).
2022
The four-time National League All-Star was acquired by the Padres from MIL as the first of the club's five trade deadline deals on Aug. 1...Named NL Reliever of the Month for April after going 10-for-10 in save opportunities and allowing just two hits (.067 AVG) with a 0.64 WHIP...Recorded his 500th career strikeout in 293.2 career innings on May 10 @ CIN, becoming the second-fastest in history to reach that milestone, just behind Aroldis Chapman (who reached 500 SO in his first 292.0 innings) and ahead of Craig Kimbrel (305.0 IP)...Posted 40 consecutive scoreless app. from Aug. 1, 2021 to June 5, 2022, tying him with HOU’s Ryan Pressly for the longest such streak in Major League history…his 38.0 consecutive scoreless relief innings over the streak tied for the sixth-longest in Major League history, and his 18 straight games with a save to begin the season set a new Major League record...the previous record of 12 games was held by BAL’s Lee Smith (1994) and PIT’s José Mesa (2005)...His season ERA rose from 0.96 to 4.24 across his final 26 appearances as a Brewer from June 7-July 29...Allowed a career-high three HR and a career-high tying 6 ER on July 15 @ SF w/ MIL before allowing just one run across his final 4 app. for the Brewers prior to the trade...In his first seven app. for SD from Aug 2-28, he went 0 for 1 in SVO with a 23.14 ERA (12 ER, 4.2 IP), allowing 12 hits (.500 AVG) and seven BB with eight SO…SD was 2-5 in those contests...Across his final 12 regular season app. from Aug 31-Oct 3, he allowed just one ER (0.79 ERA) and converted seven of his eight SVO, surrendering just five hits (.128 AVG) and two BB with 14 SO...All 13 ER allowed in a Padre uniform came in four of his 19 outings...he allowed just eight hits and one unearned run across his other 15 appearances with SD...Converted seven of his nine saves as a Padre and 36 of 40 on the season...the 36 saves tied with TOR's Jordan Romano for fourth-most in the Majors, trailing only CLE's Emmanuel Clase (42), ATL's Kenley Jansen (41) and CWS' Liam Hendriks (36)...Is now scoreless in 14 of his 16 career Postseason appearances, going 0-2 with five SV in 6 SVO, 1.37 ERA (three ER, 19.2 IP), .152 opp. AVG and 33 SO vs. four BB...Among all active pitchers who have made at least 15 career Postseason appearances, his 1.37 ERA trails only Diego Castillo's 0.98 ERA, while his 0.75 WHIP ranks fourth and his .152 opp. AVG ranks 5th...Finished off SD's 6-0, Wild Card series-clinching victory at NYM on Oct. 9 in Game 3 with a scoreless bottom of the ninth...Entered Game 2 of the NLDS on Oct. 12 @ LAD in the eighth inning and recorded the first four-out save of his Postseason career and the 4th in SD club history, joining Trevor Hoffman (1998), Crag Lefferts (1984) and Goose Gossage (1984)...Struck out two of the three batters he faced on 15 pitches to give SD the 2-1 series advantage over LAD in Game 3 of the NLDS in the Padres’ 2-1 victory on Oct. 14...Struck out Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman on 10 pitches in the top of the ninth of Game 4 on Oct. 15 to send SD to their first NLCS since 1998...he recorded the save in all 3 of SD's wins in Games 2 through 4 of the NLDS...His lone NLCS app. came in Game 2 on Oct. 19 in SD’s 8-5 win, striking out the side on 13 pitches…became the first pitcher in Postseason history to strikeout eight consecutive batters.
2021
Was named National League Reliever of the Year for the third time after going 4-2 with a 1.23 ERA and 34 saves in 60 relief appearances with Milwaukee...Became the first pitcher in either league to win Reliever of the Year three times...Was an All-MLB First Team selection for the second time...Was an All-Star for the third time...Led National League relievers (fourth in MLB) with 102 strikeouts in 58.2 innings...His 15.65 K/9IP led Major League relievers...Joined Dan Plesac (1988-89), John Axford (2011-12) and Francisco Rodríguez (2014-15) as the only pitchers in franchise history to have 30+ saves in multiple seasons (Hader had 37 saves in 2019)...Ranked fourth in the National League in saves (34)...Was 34-for-35 in save opportunities (97.1%)...his only blown save came on 7/7 at New York-NL in the first game of a doubleheader...His 1.23 ERA was second among Major League relievers, trailing only the Mets’ Aaron Loop (1.01)...his .127 opponent batting average was second among Major League relievers, trailing only the Dodgers’ Alex Vesia (.126)...Was named National League Reliever of the Month for June after 11 scoreless appearances and eight saves (11ip, 18k, .086ba)...Retired 44 of 60 first batters faced (73.3%)...Stranded four of seven inherited runners (57.1%)...Was on the injured list (COVID-19) from 8/2-8/11...Went unscored upon in his last 21 appearances of the season (20.1ip)...On 9/11 at Cleveland threw a perfect ninth inning (2k) to complete the second no-hitter in franchise history, a combined effort with Corbin Burnes (8ip, 1bb, 14k)...Appeared in two games against Atlanta in the NLDS...notched his first career postseason save in Game 1 and took the loss in Game 4 as he surrendered a go-ahead solo homer to Freddie Freeman in the eighth inning...Signed a one-year contract on 3/22/22, avoiding arbitration.
2020
Went 1-2 with a 3.79 ERA and 13 saves in 21 relief appearances with Milwaukee...Led the National League in saves (13) and ranked among NL relief leaders in opponent batting average (4th, .123) and K/9 IP (5th, 14.68)...Produced 31 strikeouts in 19.0 innings...Did not allow a hit over his first 12 appearances (11.2ip), a Major League record to begin a season...the previous record of 11 games was held by John Franco (Cin-1987), Scott Aldred (TB-1999) and Justin Wilson (Det-2017)...Tied Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser (Det-1942) and Brad Clontz (LAD-1998) for the longest streak of consecutive hitless at-bats (35) to begin a season in the Modern Era (since 1900)...Joined Billy Wagner (NYM-2008) as the only pitchers in Major League history to throw at least 1.0 inning and allow no hits in each of his first nine appearances in a season...Did not surrender a run over his first nine appearances of the season (9.1ip)...Issued 10 walks over his first 10 outings (9.2ip) - including five walks in one-third of an inning on 8/29 vs. Pittsburgh - and none over his last 11 outings (9.1ip)...Was 13-for-15 in save opportunities (86.7%)...Retired 13 of 21 first batters faced (61.9%)...Stranded each of his two inherited runners...Appeared in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series at Los Angeles (1.1ip, 2k)...Signed a one-year contract on 1/15/21, avoiding arbitration.
2019
Was named National League Reliever of the Year for the second straight season after going 3-5 with a 2.62 ERA and 37 saves in 61 relief appearances... Was named to the inaugural All-MLB First Team... Was an All-Star for the second time (did not pitch due to back soreness)... Tied the Yankees' Aroldis Chapman for third in the Major Leagues in saves (37), trailing the Padres' Kirby Yates (41) and Astros' Roberto Osuna (38)... His 37 saves marked a franchise record in a season by a left-handed reliever, surpassing Dan Plesac (33 in 1989)... Led Major League relievers with 138 strikeouts in just 75.2 innings (16.41k / 9ip)... His .155 opponent batting average was second among Major League relievers, trailing the Red Sox' Brandon Workman (.123)... Led the Major Leagues with 9 saves of at least 2.0 innings... Made 14 appearances of at least 2.0 innings...the team went 13-1... Was named National League Reliever of the Month for May (10g, 0.71era, 6sv, 12.2ip, 21k, .098ba) and June (9g, 0.68era, 7sv, 13.1ip, 25k, .050ba)...was also named Brewers Pitcher of the Month for June... Was 37-for-44 in save opportunities (84.1%)... Retired 44 of 61 first batters faced (72.1%)... Stranded 25 of 33 inherited runners (75.8%)... On 3/30 vs. St. Louis struck out the side on 9 pitches, becoming the first Brewer to accomplish the feat since Mike Fiers on 5/17/15 vs. Los Angeles-NL... Was the losing pitcher in the NL Wild Card Game on 10/1 at Washington as he allowed 3 runs (2er) in the eighth inning
2018
Went 6-1 with a 2.43 ERA and 12 saves in 55 relief appearances with Milwaukee... Made his first career Opening Day roster... Was an All-Star for the first time... Was named National League Reliever of the Year... Was named Brewers Most Valuable Pitcher as voted on by members of the Milwaukee Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America... Finished seventh in National League Cy Young Award voting... Led Major League relievers with 143 strikeouts in just 81.1 innings (15.82k / 9ip)... Had the most strikeouts in Major League history by a left-handed reliever in a single season and tied for eighth overall all time among relief pitchers in a season... Broke the franchise record for strikeouts by a reliever in a single season, passing Corey Knebel, who had 126 strikeouts in 2017... Notched 16 consecutive outs via strikeout from 9/10-9/21, the most in the Expansion Era... His .132 opponent batting average ranked second among qualifying Major League relievers, trailing only the Rangers' José Leclerc (.126)... Made 23 appearances of at least 2.0 innings...the team went 23-0 in those outings... Produced 7 saves of 2.0+ innings... Earned his first Major League save on 4/14 at New York-NL... Was 12-for-17 in save opportunities (70.6%)... Retired 43 of 55 first batters faced (78.2%)... Stranded 17 of 23 inherited runners (73.9%)... Named National League Reliever of the Month and Brewers Pitcher of the Month for March/April after posting a 1.00 ERA in 11 games (4sv, 18ip, 4h, 3r, 2er, 5bb, 39k, .070ba)... Notched the save in the NL Central tie-breaker game on 10/1 at Chicago... Made 7 scoreless appearances during the postseason (10ip, 5h, 1bb, 16k, .152ba).
2017
Entered 2017 as the second-best prospect in the organization according to Baseball America... Began the season at Triple-A Colorado Springs, where he went 3-4 with a 5.37 ERA in 12 starts... Was recalled by Milwaukee on 6/9...Went 2-3 with a 2.08 ERA in 35 relief appearances with the Brewers... Held opponents to a .156 batting average, which ranked second among qualifying NL relievers, trailing only the Cubs' Carl Edwards Jr. (.134)... His 68 strikeouts (47.2ip) tied the Mets' Josh Smoker (56.1ip) for second among Major League rookie relievers, trailing only the Mets' Paul Sewald (69k in 65.1ip)... His 68 strikeouts in 2017 ranked fourth on the all-time franchise list for rookie relievers, trailing only John Axford (76 in 2010), Jim Henderson (75 in 2013) and Dan Plesac (75 in 1986)... Retired 24 of 35 first batters faced (68.6%)...Stranded 9 of 12 inherited runners (75.0%)... Made his MLB debut on 6/10 at Arizona (1ip, 2bb-1ibb, 1k)...his first strikeout was Jake Lamb... Earned his first Major League win on 7/7 at New York-AL (3ip, 1h, 1r, 1er, 2bb, 7k, 1hr)... Was named to the 2017 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
2016
Went 3-8 with a 3.29 ERA in 25 starts between Double-A Biloxi and Triple-A Colorado Springs...Held opponents to a .223 batting average with 161 strikeouts in 126.0 innings• Began the season at Double-A Biloxi, where he went 2-1 with a 0.95 ERA in 11 starts while holding opponents to a .194 batting average with 73 strikeouts in 57.0 innings ...Was a Southern League All-Star...Pitched in the All-Star Futures Game at Petco Park (0.1ip, 1k)...Was promoted to Triple-A Colorado Springs on 6/11 and went 1-7 with a 5.22 ERA in 14 starts while opponents batted .245 with 88 strikeouts in 69.0 innings ...Was added to the 40-man roster on 11/18...Enters 2017 as the second-best prospect in the organization according to Baseball America.
