The Houston Astros are hard at work preparing for the upcoming season and one of the hottest topics of conversation revolves around the club's new closer, Josh Hader.

Hader was signed to a 5-year, $95 million contract this offseason, cementing the Astros 'pen as one of the best in baseball. Houston is no stranger to having a dominant closer, with Ryan Pressly taking the ball in the ninth inning for the last several years.

But now with Pressly moving to a role as setup man, and Bryan Abreu ready to shut teams down in the seventh inning, the Astros can shorten games with their elite arms.

So what are the first impressions of Hader?

According to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart, Alex Bregman said, “he looked great.”'

Below, you can watch Bregman taking some swings against him.

As you can see from the video, Hader didn't allow any hard contact to the Astros superstar third baseman.

Jeremy Pena and Jon Singleton also had the opportunity to face Hader. According to McTaggart, Pena said, “I'm glad he's on our team.”

So are we, Jeremy, so are we!

And speaking of Pena, we got our first glimpse of what his new swing looks like. He made good contract against Ryan Pressly on Monday.

A bounce-back season from Pena would pay huge dividends for the Astros lineup. His drastic loss of power from 2022 to 2023 had many fans and media scratching their heads. He hit 12 less home runs in 2023 while playing in 14 more games that season.

For a more in-depth look at how Pena is overhauling his swing, check out Chandler Rome's column above. From what is being reported by Rome, the adjustments are still a work in progress. Especially the footwork. But overall, Astros manager Joe Espada is encouraged by what he's seeing from Pena so far this spring.