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Astros' Hunter Brown is finally getting respect he deserves in latest power rankings

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Houston Astros v Kansas City Royals / Kyle Rivas/GettyImages

Houston Astros fans have appreciated the work Hunter Brown does night in, night out for a while now. He showed flashes of true brilliance last season, but he has ascended to an entirely different level so far in 2025 where he has posted a 1.67 ERA through his first seven starts. Still, few outside of Houston would name him among the best pitchers in baseball if asked.

Some of that is understandable as the Astros are a very regional team in terms of their brand and a lot of casual fans just don't know enough about him to put him in that conversation. However, it seems like that could be changing as Brown was put at #2 on MLB Network's Pitcher Power Rankings.

Hunter Brown put at #2 on MLB Network's Pitcher Power Rankings tot eh delight of Astros fans

Purely on merit, Brown belongs this high or even in the top spot. He is among the leaders of qualified starters in all of baseball in fWAR, ERA, and FIP and all of his stuff passes the eye test to be considered among MLB's elite starters. Tarik Skubal lags behind Brown statistically, but he had a couple iffy starts early on and now looks again like the guy that won the Cy Young last season.

Of course, everyone is going to have quibbles with a list like this based on what stats you care about and your team allegiances. However, everyone probably agrees that these 10 guys are a pretty could encapsulation of the top pitchers in baseball and it is heartening to see Brown included in such elite company.

The Astros have to hope that Brown can keep this up. While his continued dominance isn't going to help the Astros' ability to extend him long-term, the pitch staff is carrying Houston right now. With the prospect that Framber Valdez could leave after the season, having Brown establish himself as a frontline starter would go a long way towards taking the sting out of that.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.