Framber Valdez

Framber Valdez (born November 19, 1993) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). Valdez signed with the Astros as an international free agent in 2015, and made his MLB debut in 2018.

Nicknamed "La Grasa" by his peers for his fashion style, Valdez enjoyed a banner year in 2022. That year, he became the Astros' Opening Day starter, an MLB All-Star, and an All-MLB First Team selection—each for the first time—while compiling an MLB record of 25 consecutive in-season quality starts. The Astros won that year's World Series, the first championship for Valdez, who pitched six innings in the decisive Game 6 after having won Game 2.

Early life
Framber Valdez was born in Palenque, San Cristóbal Province, Dominican Republic. He started pitching at age 16.

Minor leagues
Valdez signed with the Houston Astros as an international free agent on March 19, 2015, for a $10,000 bonus. At age 21, he was five years older than most amateur free agent signings from his country. Two Astros scouts spotted him after a long day of viewing programs led by independent trainers. Watching him throw only six pitches—in the beams of car headlights as darkness fell—they offered him a tryout at their Dominican academy near Guayacanes. Valdez had had verbal agreements with seven teams prior to signing with the Astros, but each offer was withdrawn after the results of his physical revealed that he might require ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, also known as "Tommy John surgery." Indeed, as a teenager, team after team declined to sign him for medical reasons that he "did not understand at all."

Valdez made his professional debut in 2015 with the DSL Astros, going 4–1 with a 3.68 ERA over $36 2/3$ innings. He split the 2016 season between the Greeneville Astros, Tri City ValleyCats, Quad Cities River Bandits, and Lancaster JetHawks, combining to go 4–5 with a 3.19 ERA over $73 1/3$ innings. He split the 2017 season between the Buies Creek Astros and the Corpus Christi Hooks, going a combined 7–8 with a 4.16 ERA over $110 1/3$ innings. Following the 2017 season, he played for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League.

He split the 2018 minor league season between Corpus Christi and the Fresno Grizzlies, going a combined 6–5 with a 4.11 ERA over 103 innings.

2018–2020
The Astros promoted Valdez to the major leagues for the first time on August 21, 2018. He made his debut that day, pitching $4 1/3$ innings and earning the win. With Houston in 2018, he went 4–1 with a 2.19 ERA over 37 innings. Valdez split the 2019 season between the Round Rock Express and Houston. With Round Rock, he went 5–2 with a 3.25 ERA over $44 1/3$ innings. With Houston, he went 4–7 with a 5.86 ERA over $70 2/3$ innings.

It was after the season that he was urged by Caridad Cabrera, the team director of Latin American operations to see team sports psychologist Dr. Andy Nuñez at their Dominican academy. The two soon found a strong bond with each other, with Nuñez advising him on how he should harness his emotions better with controlled breathing in tense situations. He was cited as a key presence in Valdez's improvement as a pitcher, and the two still contacted each other prior to every Valdez start.

In 2020, Valdez was 5–3 with a 3.57 ERA in 11 games (10 starts), in which he threw $70 2/3$ innings and struck out 76 batters (8th in the AL), and had the second-best home runs per nine innings allowed (HR/9 IP) ratio in the AL (0.637). He led the club in innings pitched, tied for the team lead in games won, and was named Astros Pitcher of the Year by the Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).

On September 29, 2020, in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series, Valdez became the first relief pitcher to throw five scoreless innings in the playoffs since Madison Bumgarner did so in Game 7 in the 2014 World Series. Valdez went 3–1 in the postseason, which saw the Astros reach the American League Championship Series (ALCS) after winning the first two rounds of the COVID-affected 2020 season. He was the winning pitcher in Game 6 of the LCS that made the Astros the second team in MLB history to force a Game 7 after trailing 3–0.

2021
On March 3, 2021, Valdez suffered a fractured left ring finger after he was hit in the hand by a Francisco Lindor ground ball in a spring training game. Expected to miss months or possibly the whole season, he returned on May 28. He led the major leagues in ground ball rate in 2021.

In 2021, Valdez was 11–6 with one complete game and a 3.14 ERA over 22 starts and $134 2/3$ innings.

Valdez started Game 5 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) versus the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. He went eight innings to earn the win in a 9–1 final, limiting Boston to one run on three hits and a walk while striking out five. At several points during the game, Red Sox radio announcers Joe Castiglione and Will Flemming commented that Valdez was rubbing the fingers of his pitching hand against his cheek and temple each time he was given a new ball, which prompted an angry response from Houston sportswriters; no accusation of cheating was filed by the Red Sox.

Valdez was the seventh visiting pitcher at Fenway to go at least eight innings in a postseason game while allowing a run or fewer, and the first since Charles Nagy in 1998.

2022
Valdez avoided arbitration with the Astros on March 22, 2022, agreeing on a $3 million contract for the season.

On April 7, 2022, Valdez won his debut as an Opening Day starting pitcher, recording $6 2/3$ scoreless innings in a 3–1 game. He achieved his first nine-inning complete game on May 30 versus the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum, a two-hitter and 5–1 Astros win. On July 3, Valdez set a new career-high with 13 strikeouts in a start versus the Angels. Twelve consecutive outs Valdez produced were via strikeout, supplanting the franchise record of nine previously accomplished by Don Wilson, Randy Johnson, and Gerrit Cole (twice). Valdez' 13 strikeouts were the first of 20 for the team, establishing a franchise record for a nine-inning game.

Valdez was named to the MLB All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium. His 2.64 ERA ranked second on the Astros' staff and he also had pitched two complete games, tying for the major league lead. He pitched in the third inning of the All-Star Game, retiring all three batters faced, and received the win when the American League scored the go-ahead run after he had finished. Valdez became the first in Astros history to receive the win in an All-Star Game, and the first to receive a decision since Roger Clemens in 2004.

On September 12, Valdez threw his first major league complete-game shutout, a 7–0 win over the Detroit Tigers. Through September 14, 2022, Valdez had induced the highest career ground ball rate (66.3%) of any pitcher since 1988; only Derek Lowe had surpassed that figure in any individual season (2002 and 2006). Valdez threw 25 straight quality starts from April 25 to September 18, establishing the MLB record over a single season. It also set the record for most consecutive total in American League history and among left-handed pitchers,   trailing only Bob Gibson and Jacob deGrom (tied at 26) for most consecutive all-time.

For the 2022 regular season, Valdez produced a 2.82 ERA and 17–6 record over 31 games started. He led the AL in innings pitched ($201 1/3$), batters faced (827), complete games (3), shutouts (1), quality starts (26), and HR/9 IP (0.492), all of which were career-bests to that point. His win total placed second in the AL behind teammate Justin Verlander, while his ERA was sixth, and 194 strikeouts were seventh, tied with Cristian Javier for the team lead.

As starter of Game 2 of the World Series, Valdez struck out nine Philadelphia Phillies batters over $6 1/3$ innings to earn his first career win in World Series play following a 5–2 Astros victory. Valdez started and became the winning pitcher in the Astros' Game 6 Series clincher, working six innings while allowing one run on two hits and striking out nine to give him his first career championship. During the postseason, he was 4–0 with a 1.61 ERA and .144 batting average against.

2023
Valdez agreed to a $6.8 million contract for the season with the Astros on January 13, 2023, avoiding arbitration. A $3.8 million raise, it was the largest to date for pitcher advancing from year 1 to 2 of arbitration who had yet to win a Cy Young Award. Valdez drew his second consecutive Opening Day start for the Astros, tossing a scoreless outing versus the Chicago White Sox. He was named to the 2023 MLB All-Star Game, but did not pitch in the game.

On August 1, 2023, Valdez no-hit the Cleveland Guardians 2–0 at Minute Maid Park, the 16th no-hitter in Astros' history, the first with the minimum 27 batters faced, and first by an Astro left-hander. Needing only 93 pitches, Valdez threw 65 for strikes and struck out seven. Oscar González drew a walk as Cleveland's only baserunner and was erased by a double play. Martín Maldonado was the catcher. Valdez was named AL Player of the Week for July 31–August 6 following the no-hit effort, his first weekly award. On August 27, Valdez tossed seven hitless innings versus the Detroit Tigers, leaving with a no-hitter intact, but allowed five walks. He became the seventh pitcher in history to turn two no-hit outings of at least seven innings in one season, and the first since Max Scherzer in 2015. In his next start, Valdez held Boston hitless until Justin Turner singled with one out in the fourth, extending a hitless streak to $10 1/3$ innings.

For the 2023 season, Valdez posted a 3.45 ERA, 12–11 W–L record, and 200 strikeouts in $198 1/3$ innings over 31 starts. He ranked third in the AL in innings pitched, fourth in H/9 (7.5), and in seventh in each of ERA, strikeouts, and walks plus hits per inning pitched (1.126, WHIP). Along with Gerrit Cole, Valdez was one of two pitchers in the league who tossed two shutouts; he also became the first Astro to lead or tie for the league lead twice in shutouts, and his 55% groundball rate also led the AL. He was named Astros' Pitcher of the Year for the second time.

Personal life
Valdez is married with three children.

During Game 2 of the 2022 World Series at Minute Maid Park, Valdez' father, José Antonio Valdéz Ramírez, witnessed his son pitch for the first time in the major leagues. Valdez had not traveled previously to see him play due to a fear of flying.

Valdez is a Christian. He donated $100,000 to help build a church in his hometown.