Josh Hader endears himself to Astros fans with latest gesture (for a great cause)

When the Houston Astros signed Josh Hader, he didn't exactly arrive with the best reputation. His time with the Brewers was marred by some extremely questionable social media activity from his youth coming to light. There were also issues when Hader was with Milwaukee, as well as the Padres, around his hesitancy to pitch more than three outs, which resulted in some questioning his commitment to winning. There are certainly guys in MLB right now with more checkered pasts than Hader, but he has far from a sterling reputation around the league.

For most fans, performing well on the field is all that matters, and Hader mostly accomplished that in his first season with Houston.

In 71 appearances in 2024, Hader notched 34 saves with a 3.80 ERA, accompanied by his usual high strikeout rates. Despite Hader crashing and burning in the playoffs, most fans probably think Houston is a better team with Hader at the back of their bullpen than with Ryan Pressly assuming solo back-end duties.

Rehabbing Hader's image beyond his impact on the field is a trickier problem to solve, but Hader and his wife took a pretty cool first step by hosting a Christmas toy drive outside of Minute Maid Park (soon to be Daikin Park) on Tuesday.

Josh Hader and his wife, Maria, held a successful charity toy drive to benefit underprivileged and neglected kids this Christmas

First things first: this is a tremendous cause. The Haders worked with Be A Resource Houston (BEAR), the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, as well as the Harris County Resources for Children to gather donations for kids this Christmas who are in foster care, have been recently uprooted, or are the victims of neglect and/or abuse. In this very divisive time we live in, everyone should be able to get behind this cause.

By all accounts, the toy drive was successful. Not only will tons of needy kids and their families have a Christmas that is just a little bit brighter, but it also gave Hader an opportunity to give back to the community in Houston, where he will be for the foreseeable future.

As Hader said himself, "Sometimes, the gifts are overlooked because they have other things they have to worry about. For us to just do something like this and be able to just give back is just a little way of bringing a smile to a kid's face."

The book on Hader's tenure with the Astros is far from written, as he is still under contract for a lot of money through the 2028 season. However, he took a great step towards endearing himself to the city of Houston here, and should be applauded for that.

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