Right-hander Ryan Weiss has officially become a free agent after the Houston Astros declined his $5 million club option for the 2027 season, a decision that closed a brief and ultimately unsuccessful major-league chapter for the former Korean Baseball Organization standout.
Weiss, who turned 29 in December, arrived in Houston last winter on a one-year, $2.6 million deal that included the club option and a $500,000 buyout.
The contract was a low-risk bet on a pitcher who had reinvented himself overseas.
After limited success in the minors and a stint in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, Weiss spent 2024 and 2025 with the Hanwha Eagles.
Over those two seasons, he logged 270 1/3 innings with a 3.16 ERA; in 2025 alone he made 30 starts, posting a 2.87 ERA with a 28.6 percent strikeout rate and solid ground-ball numbers.
The Astros viewed him as a potential rotation depth piece as they navigated injuries and free-agent departures.
The transition back to North America proved difficult.
Weiss made the Opening Day roster as a reliever and debuted on March 27 against the Los Angeles Angels, allowing a home run to the first batter he faced, Zach Neto, before recording his first major-league strikeout against Jorge Soler.
Across nine appearances (two of them starts), he went 0-3 with a 7.62 ERA in 26 innings, striking out 30 while walking batters at a 15.3 percent clip.
The Astros designated him for assignment in mid-June; he cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Sugar Land. There he pitched 76 1/3 innings with a 5.42 ERA, numbers that made exercising the option an easy call for the organization.
The transaction appeared on the minor-league transaction wire for October 30, listing Weiss as having elected free agency, consistent with the club’s earlier decision to decline the option.
With the buyout paid, he returns to the open market after just one partial major-league season.
At 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, the right-hander still possesses the size and repertoire that once made him effective in the KBO, but major-league clubs are likely to view him primarily as a minor-league or non-roster invite candidate unless he elects to pursue another overseas opportunity.
For Weiss, the brief Astros tenure ends a full-circle journey that began with a fourth-round selection by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018.
Whether he finds a landing spot in affiliated ball or heads back across the Pacific, the next chapter of his career will be written without the major-league guarantee that brought him to Houston.
