Astros’ Josh Hader gets promising update after shoulder injury ended 2025 season

Pitchers and catchers are set to report to their clubs this week, and for the Houston Astros, they get some positive news on the injury front as MLB spring training begins.

All-Star closer Josh Hader, who suffered a season-ending injury in August 2025, is seemingly making good progress amid his recovery journey.

“As spring training begins for the Astros, All-Star closer Josh Hader has been throwing lightly and on flat ground. He and the Astros hope to learn more about where he stands in his prep for the season in the middle of this week,” Buster Olney of ESPN shared in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.

The Astros were without the services of Hader in the last two months of the 2025 MLB campaign, as he went down with a shoulder injury. There was initial optimism that he would be able to see action in the postseason, but that never materialized, as Houston won just 87 games to miss the boat to the playoffs and finish just second in the American League West Division.

The 31-year-old Hader was having a stellar campaign on the mound before suffering the said injury, as he recorded 28 saves with a 2.05 ERA and 0.854 WHIP through 48 appearances and earned his sixth MLB All-Star nod — and first with Houston. He went 6-2 with a 206 ERA+ and 76 strikeouts through 52.2 innings of work in 2025 for the Astros, who signed him to a five-year contract worth $95 million in 2024.

The hope now is that Hader will be able to show enough improvement in the coming weeks for the Astros to feel confident in his chances to be ready by Opening Day.

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