The Umpire's Son

The Umpire's Son

Tom Hader umpired his son's scrimmages with a strike zone so tight it forced perfection, and he pushed Josh hard toward the big-league dream. Josh started playing at three, umpired Little League games himself as a boy, and credits that zone for his love of pitching and the command on his fastball. Born in Millersville, Maryland, the son of Tom and Patricia Hader, he went 10-0 with a 0.30 ERA and 125 strikeouts as a senior at Old Mill High School. The Orioles drafted him in the 19th round of the 2012 draft — 582nd overall, a $40,000 bonus — and he signed instead of attending Anne Arundel Community College. The call came while he was driving to a senior all-star game at Camden Yards, the park where he'd walked around as a kid watching Cal Ripken. He later recalled it as a full-circle moment. He is married to Maria; their first child was born in June 2022.

Three Clubs

Baltimore traded him to Houston in 2013 in the Bud Norris deal. Houston sent him to Milwaukee in 2015. He debuted with the Brewers on June 10, 2017 — six seasons in Milwaukee, two in San Diego, and three now with the Astros: ten major-league seasons. On September 4, 2026, he recorded his 250th career save.

All 507 appearances have come in relief. Zero starts, in 550.2 career innings, with 881 strikeouts, a 2.50 ERA, and a 0.92 WHIP. Six All-Star teams. Craig Counsell has described him as a historic reliever, among the game's best aside from one brief blip. In the off-season he hunts with a bow, introduced to it by a childhood friend — his first deer, a 7-point buck, from a tree stand about 20 yards away.

He is 32, with 23 saves and 52 strikeouts in 39 games for Houston this season.

Reporting: San Diego Union-Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, ESPN, Wikipedia, Baseball-Reference. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.