Astros’ Josh Hader makes brutally honest admission amid injury recovery

Houston Astros star closer Josh Hader is continuing to recover from a bicep injury. Hader was placed on the IL before the season. The veteran reliever recently spoke to reporters and shared his thoughts on not being able to play due to injury, via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com.

“It’s tough to sit here and watch games and not be able to be part of it. Obviously the emotions are still there,” Hader said. “But not being able to participate, it’s definitely a grind. But overall, I got work to do in the background. I feel like I’ve been doing that.”

Hader, 32, is one of the best relief pitchers in baseball when healthy. He turned in a stellar 2.05 ERA to go along with 28 saves during the 2025 season. He also earned his sixth career All-Star appearance.

It goes without saying, but the Astros have missed Hader. The team is battling a plethora of injury concerns at the moment. Overall, the Astros’ performance has been lackluster, as they hold a 6-11 record and are in last place in the American League West.

“I mean obviously, you know, we haven’t been playing good baseball,” Hader added. “We’ve been losing. We play 162 for a reason… There’s a long season ahead of us. We’re gonna have some ups and downs. Obviously with the downs being early in the year, it magnifies much more. We got a really good ball club here and we’re gonna do some really good things.

“I think if you put too much pressure on what we got going on now, you lose sight on what’s ahead. These guys know what they gotta do each and every day. They’re gonna show up, they’re gonna put 100 percent in and they’re gonna play good baseball.”

The Astros will try to get back on track at 8:10 PM EST at home against the Colorado Rockies.

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