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Christopher Boan is a writer with BetTexas.com, covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
Most Undervalued Houston Astros On 2025 Roster
As the Houston Astros look to reach the MLB postseason for a ninth straight season, thereâs no denying that the franchise will look a bit different in 2025, with a cast of youthful players taking on more responsibility for the two-time World Series champs.
Between homegrown talent like 26-year-old catcher Yainer Diaz and pitchers Hunter Brown and Ronel Blanco and leaders like Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker, Houston will once again have the type of organizational depth needed to make a deep run come October across Texas sports betting.
BetTexas.com utilized Fangraphs.com to gather the 2025 salary information and projected 2025 WAR. Once acquiring that information, we divided the salary by the playerâs projected WAR to determine the playersâ potential value.
Who Are Most Undervalued Houston Astros?
Player | 2025 Salary | 2025 Projected WAR | Value* |
Yainer Diaz (Catcher) | $800,000 | 3.0 | $266,667 |
Hunter Brown (Pitcher) | $800,000 | 2.8 | $285,714 |
Ronel Blanco (Pitcher) | $800,000 | 1.5 | $533,333 |
*(Salary Per WAR)
Note: Some playersâ salaries are represented by their salary before arbitration. Only players projected on the Opening Day 40-Man Roster were included.
Also of interest: Does MLB Payroll Ranking Predict World Series Champions?
Yainer Diaz At Top Of Undervalued Astros
With 2025 salaries at the league minimum, Blanco, Brown and Diaz are all slated to provide quite the return on Houstonâs investment this season, with Diaz projected by Fangraphs.com to post a 3.0 WAR total behind the dish while his battery mates (Brown and Blanco) are projected to have 2.8 and 1.5 WAR totals in 2025.
Right now, Fangraphs.com projects that Brown will be Houstonâs No. 2 starter behind Framber Valdez, while Blanco is expected to slot in as the teamâs No. 3 starter in 2025, with the former expected to make 29 starts and throw 166 innings with a 3.71 ERA while the latter has a projection of 28 starts, 159 innings pitched and a 4.16 ERA for Houston this season.
Diaz, meanwhile, is projected by Fangraphs.com to hit .280 with 21 home runs in 2025, as the 26-year-old catcher/DH plays in 143 games for the Astros during his third MLB season, with the Dominican Republic native looking to provide the type of catching excellence that World Series winners usually count upon each fall.
Itâs that talent that the three youthful Astros possess thatâs helped inspire oddsmakers from DraftKings Texas Sportsbook to list Houston at +1500 to win their third World Series title since 2017 in 2025, with Blanco, Brown and Diaz all expected to play key roles on a squad that enters Spring Training with a win total over/under of 87.5 in the Space City.
USA Today photo by Thomas Shea.
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