Framber Valdez revitalizes his groundball pitcher identity | Houston Astros insider

A final fix arose for Framber Valdez to defuse. Dane Myers punched his first pitch of Wednesday’s seventh into right field. It was the groundball Valdez sought but, with second baseman Jose Altuve shaded up the middle, not the placement.

Two pitches later, Valdez realized both. The Astros left-hander spotted a sinker just below the strike zone. Emmanuel Rivera rolled it toward Altuve for a double play, a result Valdez has proven especially adept at producing in this season’s first half.

Valdez’s formula is no secret. No qualified pitcher has a higher groundball rate since the start of the 2021 season. That should naturally lead to more double plays. Still, after a season in which his groundball rate decreased, the clip at which Valdez is generating them this year is notable.

After inducing three in his seven innings in a 9-1 Astros win Wednesday, Valdez has recorded 23 double plays in 98⅓ innings. No other pitcher in the majors has more than 16. Last season, Valdez generated 22 double plays in 198 innings. He induced a career-high 25 in 201⅓ innings in 2022.

“Just throw the ball down in the zone,” Valdez said, through an interpreter, of the uptick. “Try to keep it down in the zone with my sinker and my curveball. I think as long as you keep the ball down in the zone, you’re going to get a lot of groundballs, a lot of choppers, and that’s what I did.”

Valdez got groundballs at a career-low 55.2% rate last season. Hitters elevated his sinker more often, and it was posited that Valdez throwing the pitch harder negated some of its natural downward movement. Valdez’s overall line-drive rate rose more than 4% from 2022 and he allowed a career-high 19 home runs.

Before Wednesday, Valdez’s groundball rate had crept back up to 62.2% this season. The average launch angle against his sinker had dipped six degrees from last year. Opponents were hitting .299 against it but slugging .406, down from .455 last year, suggesting fewer thrown in areas where hitters can do damage.

Against the Marlins, Valdez faced a lineup that has looked feeble against left-handed pitching. Miami had the majors’ lowest OPS (.599) and highest groundball rate (51.6%) against lefties entering Wednesday. It proved a reasonable predictor for how Valdez’s outing unfolded.

Valdez scattered six hits, all singles, and notched a season-high 10 strikeouts while allowing one run over seven innings. He wielded his curveball more than usual, spinning 37 on 95 total pitches and finishing six strikeouts with it. Marlins hitters whiffed on 10 of 21 swings against the pitch.

Valdez ended another three strikeouts on his slider, a pitch he has used sparingly this year. Valdez threw the slider 3.3% of the time in his first 15 starts. He mixed in 13 sliders against the Marlins, who whiffed on five of seven swings against it and put none into play.

“It was part of the plan,” Valdez said. “I needed it today, so it was a pitch that was there for me and I was able to execute it today.”

Astros manager Joe Espada noted Valdez was able to land his breaking pitches for strikes early in counts, helping him generate weak contact and manage his pitch count. Marlins hitters averaged an 86 mph exit velocity on 14 balls in play against Valdez, none leaving the bat faster than 97.1 mph.

Valdez sailed through his first three innings on 30 pitches, facing the minimum. He needed 40 pitches to work his next two frames but the early efficiency allowed him to finish the sixth at 85 pitches and return to the mound for the seventh. Espada used one reliever, Kaleb Ort, for the final two innings.

“When he gets behind in counts, that’s when you start wondering how long he’s going to be in the game,” Espada said. “But when he’s getting outs quick, you see a strong seven innings like what we saw tonight.”

That the Astros seek that version of Valdez more often in the second half is evident. Valdez, who spent several weeks on the IL in April with elbow soreness, compiled an uneven first half, notching 10 quality starts in 16 outings, having several starts spiral on him and emerging with a 3.66 ERA.

Injuries have left him the most experienced member of Houston’s current rotation. Around him are two pitchers navigating their first full seasons as major-league starters (Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti), one in his second (Hunter Brown) and one who will make his second MLB start on Thursday (Jake Bloss).

Blanco has been the Astros’ most reliable starter and Brown stellar the past two months. Yet until some reinforcement arrives, whether internal or via the trade deadline, Valdez seems critical to offer stability and quality innings down the stretch as Houston’s other starters press into uncharted territory.

Valdez has a 3.02 ERA over his last eight starts, including one in which he allowed five runs over four innings in San Francisco, with the Astros going 6-2 in those games, perhaps offering an encouraging sign as the team nears the All-Star break.

“When you do things well and you get good results and things go well, it increases your confidence,” said Valdez. “And it just motivates me to do even better the next start.”