WAR is a controversial stat in baseball, and I will be the first to say that it is not always very accurate when comparing certain players. But in general, it is a decent way to compare the value of players across positions for a season.
Today, we will take a few minutes to look at the Astros’ top 5 position players and top 5 pitchers across a few recent seasons, from the 2022 Championship season up to 2025. Note – All numbers are taken from baseball-reference.com.
2025 – Top 5 Position Players
| Player | WAR | Games |
| Jeremy Pena | 5.6 | 125 |
| Yainer Diaz | 2.7 | 143 |
| Jake Meyers | 2.4 | 102 |
| Isaac Paredes | 2.3 | 134 |
| Cam Smith | 1.9 | 133 |
Total Position Players 2025 – 19 WAR
If you want to see the big difference between a 2022 Championship team’s position players and a 2025 team that misses the playoffs, look at those WAR numbers: 30 vs. 19. Also, Jeremy Pena is all alone at the top – no one above 3 besides him. In 2022, the top five position players were 4.5 and above. The biggest surprise here is seeing Cam Smith ranked in the top 5, and not Jose Altuve. That is a testament to the difference in their fielding impact.
2025 – Top 5 Pitchers
| Player | WAR | Games |
| Hunter Brown | 6.1 | 31 |
| Framber Valdez | 3.8 | 31 |
| Bryan Abreu | 2.6 | 70 |
| Josh Hader | 2.3 | 48 |
| Bryan King | 1.7 | 69 |
Total Pitchers 2025 – 21.7 WAR
Probably most telling is that there are only two starting pitchers in the top 5 in this list. This reflects how many pitchers had to rotate through those three or four starting spots behind Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez. Just like Pena, Brown totally stands far above the others in the top spot. Another point of note is Abreu edging out Hader for the third spot. Hader’s injury was the difference there as he pitched in about 70% as many games as his bullpen mate.
2024 – Top 5 Position Players
| Player | WAR | Games |
| Yordan Alvarez | 5.4 | 147 |
| Kyle Tucker | 4.7 | 78 |
| Alex Bregman | 4.1 | 145 |
| Jeremy Pena | 4.1 | 157 |
| Jose Altuve | 3.4 | 153 |
Total Position Players 2024 – 26.3 WAR
A much stronger WAR season for the position players. Alvarez and Altuve play almost full seasons, and of course, Tucker and Bregman were still with the team. Tucker may have put up the most amazing number here – 4.7 WAR in only 78 games. If you factor that up to 150 games, that would be around 9 WAR, in Aaron Judge’s neighborhood.
2024 – Top 5 Pitchers
| Player | WAR | Games |
| Ronel Blanco | 4.4 | 30 |
| Framber Valdez | 4.4 | 28 |
| Hunter Brown | 2.6 | 31 |
| Tayler Scott | 1.7 | 62 |
| Bryan Abreu | 1.6 | 78 |
Total Pitchers 2024 – 16.9 WAR
Overall, the pitching was much worse in 2024 than in 2025 for the Astros. Imagine what it would have been without Ronel Blanco, who was at the top of their starters with Framber the whole season. Josh Hader did not crack the top 5 with a 0.6 WAR, trailing fellow relievers Scott and Abreu in his first season with the club.
2023 – Top 5 Position Players
| Player | WAR | Games |
| Kyle Tucker | 5.5 | 157 |
| Alex Bregman | 4.9 | 161 |
| Yordan Alvarez | 4.5 | 114 |
| Jeremy Pena | 3.9 | 150 |
| Chas McCormick | 3.4 | 115 |
Total Position Players 2023 – 31.5 WAR
Oh, Chas-man, what happened to you? 3.4 WAR in 115 games (because Dusty Baker did not like him that much) and falling quickly to being let go two seasons later. This was a potent set of position players, producing more WAR than the 2022 championship team. Yordan would have led this team, but 114 games does not cut it. Jose Altuve was 7th behind young Yainer Diaz.
2023 – Top 5 Pitchers
| Player | WAR | Games |
| Framber Valdez | 3.2 | 31 |
| Hector Neris | 2.6 | 71 |
| Bryan Abreu | 2.5 | 72 |
| J.P. France | 1.6 | 24 |
| Justin Verlander | 1.3 | 11 |
Total Pitchers 2023 – 15.4 WAR
Hector Neris? Second? I’d forgotten how strong his 2023 season was already. This was a weaker season for Astros pitching, as Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier did not pitch particularly well. Verlander did return at the trade deadline to give the team a boost down the stretch.
2022 – Top 5 Position Players
| Player | WAR | Games |
| Yordan Alvarez | 6.8 | 135 |
| Kyle Tucker | 5.5 | 150 |
| Jose Altuve | 5.2 | 141 |
| Jeremy Pena | 5.0 | 136 |
| Alex Bregman | 4.5 | 155 |
Total Position Players 2022 – 30.8 WAR
A very strong offense, as we discussed above. I remember Pena dominating in the postseason, but I did not remember him performing this well in the regular season. Of course, his glove was probably a big part of it stat-wise. Altuve had his last big season in WAR in 2022. And of course, the trio of Alvarez, Tucker and Bregman were big producers.
2022 – Top 5 Pitchers
| Player | WAR | Games |
| Justin Verlander | 5.6 | 28 |
| Cristian Javier | 3.6 | 30 |
| Framber Valdez | 3.4 | 31 |
| Ryne Stanek | 2.1 | 59 |
| Lance McCullers Jr. | 1.4 | 8 |
Total Pitchers 2022 – 23.7 WAR
JV’s huge season after returning from his TJ surgery led an excellent effort from the pitching staff. I would never have guessed that Stanek would be the only reliever in this top 5. This underscores that, though Ryan Pressly was an excellent reliever for the Astros, he was not much of a WAR contributor.
This was an interesting exercise. What stands out to you here?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 