Houston Astros' pitcher Hunter Brown has quickly blossomed into one of the best pitchers in the MLB. Brown is in his third full season with the Astros after making his debut and pitching in seven games in 2022. The young pitcher is having a career-year, with a 2.45 ERA and made his first All-Star game.
Although the Astros have three more years of arbitration on Brown, holding him under team control through 2028, it may be time for Houston to start talking about an extension with their young star.
In Brown's first two full seasons in the MLB, he pitched to a 5.09 ERA in 2023 and a 3.49 ERA in 2024. The Astros' pitcher struggled at times, but demonstrated he had the ability to be a star. Brown struck out 357 batters across those two years.
Now, Brown has put it all together in 2025 and leads the Astros's pitching staff in ERA. The young star is in the Cy Young conversation with Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal and Boston Red Sox's Garrett Crochet. Brown is on pace to set a career-high in strikeouts, has a WHIP of one on the season and has a batting average against of less than .200.
After a couple of tough starts in July, Hunter Brown has got it turned around. His last four starts:
— Astros Future (@AstrosFuture) August 14, 2025
1.88 ERA | 24.0 IP | 18 H | 7 BB | 20 K
He currently has a 2.45 ERA, which is 2nd best in the American League. #Astros pic.twitter.com/97u3s91Pbi
Brown is certainly going to command a big contract when he becomes a free agent, but can the Astros work ahead and get a bargain deal for the rising star?
That's what they did with young pitcher Christian Javier when they signed him to a five-year, $64 million extension in 2023. Javier had multiple years of team control remaining, but the Astros planned ahead and locked Javier up for the future.
However, the Astros didn't do the same with pitcher Framber Valdez, who's set to be free agent this offseason and will be one of the top pitching option on the market. It feels like a foregone conclusion that the Astros won't pay the money needed to keep Valdez for the future, which brings back to question on Brown.
"Brown has emerged as a true Cy Young candidate and legitimate ace, something that does not grow on trees. The Astros need not look very far to see the detrimental effects of waiting to lavish a top-flight starter with an extension," Fansided's Stephen Parello wrote, in reference to Valdez. "The Astros can't afford to make the same mistake twice."
Brown's extension would be more expensive than Javier's, but it's early enough in his career that the Astros could try to work out a long-term, team friendly deal with the rising star now that would pay big dividends in the future.