Left-handed pitcher Framber Valdez was called up to the Houston Astros, Tuesday, August 21. To make room on the 25-man roster, Houston optioned fellow left-handed reliever Cionel Perez to AAA Fresno.
Related: Astros Send Valdez, Perez (Plus 2 Others) to Annual MLB Rookie Program, (January, 2019)
Valdez, in his MLB debut his first day with Houston, pitched a solid 4.1 innings, following Brad Peacock‘s starting 1.2 IP in Seattle. Valdez, “softly” wild with three hit batters, used his sweeping curve to keep the Mariners off balance to the tune of one unearned run. He yielded one walk, one hit, while striking out four, while picking up his first career win in the 3-2 Astro victory.
He’ll likely be strongly considered for a future starting gig, perhaps as soon as this Sunday in Anaheim.
The Astros set a franchise record in the game by grounding into six double plays. The previous record of five was set on July 13, 1962 — the franchise’s first season, and their first of three years as the Colt .45s.
Valdez would have been Rule 5 draft eligible if he had not been added to the roster this winter, so it appears the Astros had already decided they would protect him.
Houston concludes a west coast road trip Sunday, August 26 in Anaheim, after a weekend set vs the Angels. The Astros are in Seattle concluding a three-game series against the Mariners through the 22nd, before a Thursday off day.
Framber (pronounced “FRAHM-ber”) Valdez is a native of the Dominican Republic and fills out at a solid 5’11” and 170 pounds. He’s the Astros’ 11th-ranked prospect.
Just Under the Wire
He’s a bit of an anomaly, in that he signed when he was 21 -five years older than most amateur free agents from the Dominican- and only cost the Astros a $10,000 bonus. Other teams, apparently, had been skeptical of potential arm issues he insists never existed and because of his age. Valdez is on record as saying he didn’t start pitching until he was 16.
“I wasn’t ready when I was younger,” Valdez told the Houston Chronicle through a translator in a spring 2017 interview. “I think as I got older, I became more established, I understood what it took and I had the opportunity with some managers and guys around me who pushed me and got me in the right mentality and got me to prepare for what was to come.”
The Astros signed Valdez in March 2015 based on a tryout at their Dominican academy. Area scout David Brito had earlier brought supervisor Roman Ocumarez to watch Valdez pitch in a program held by an independent trainer in the small town of Guayacanes, 58 miles from his hometown of Palenque.
As Astros’ director of international scouting, Oz Ocampo, tells it, Brito and Ocumarez stopped at four or five programs throughout a long day scouting along the east coast of the Dominican. The last program of the day was where they saw Valdez, who needed only a half-dozen pitches to earn a tryout, reports the Chronicle.
Impressing the Front Office
In a statement hinting that the Astros beat other teams to the punch, Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow reflected on the Valdez signing: “It was just a really tremendous job of scouting and beating the bushes. It goes to show you that even in this day of information and everything else, that good scouts can find these players that other scouts haven’t identified.
“There’s a lot we like about him,” Luhnow continued his assessment of the soft-spoken 24-year-old. “He’s had success in our system. He flew through a lot of our system last year [four teams in Houston’s organization in 2016].
“He’s got a repertoire of pitches that allows him to be a starter from the left side. He’s opened AJ’s eyes,” Luhnow concluded, referencing Astros’ manager AJ Hinch, who is unabashed in his praise for Valdez: “He’s been very impressive with his poise and his ability to land his breaking ball.”
Tools and Near Future
Valdez complements his major league-caliber low 90s fastball with a curve that routinely registers in the 76 to 80 mph range, and features good shape and late bite, scouts observe. He attacks the strike zone with a low-90s sinker and is working on a changeup.
He’s one of just five left-handed pitchers on all 30 teams’ top 30 lists, boasting a ≥60 fastball, ≥60 curveball, and ≥50 changeup, on the 20-80 scouting scale.
Valdez owns a 4.11 ERA across 103 innings between Double-A Corpus Christi and Fresno this season.