by Team Del Genio
Saturday, Aug 31, 2024It was Framber Valdez’s turn in the Houston Astros starting rotation on Friday (8/30) pitching against the Kansas City Royals. For the season, the left-hander had a 13-6 record along with a 3.27 era and a 1.14 whip in twenty-three starts. Yet even those good numbers did not tell the whole story of his season.
Since Valdez began relying more on his curveball, he has gotten into one of the best grooves of his career. After not throwing his curveball more than 32% of the time in any start all season, Valdez used his curveball for a season-high (at the time) in 39% of his pitches on July 10th. He struck out ten batters and gave up only one earned run in seven innings against Miami. Since that effort, Valdez has thrown his curveball at least 37% of the time.
In his last eight starts, the lefty has a 2.25 era and a 0.87 whip. He has struck out 67 strikeouts in those 52 innings. Averaging 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings while also inducing ground balls in 60% of the batted balls against him is a lethal combination. That season ground ball rate ranks in the 97th percentile in MLB. Opposing hitters have a low barrel rate of their batted balls against him of just 4.7%, ranking in the highest tenth percentile.
In what was our MLB American League Game of the Month for August, Valdez looked poised to pitch a great game against the Royals. Hitting is down this season with the MLB batting average at .244, the on-base percentage at .313, and the slugging percentage at .401. Kansas City has .270/.331/.445 hitting plays when playing at home at Kauffman Stadium. Yet on the road going into that game, the Royals' splits dropped to .244/.296/.402 which is right at or below (the on-base percentage) the MLB average.
As expected, Valdez was brilliant. He did not allow a hit in his seven scoreless innings of work. He struck out seven batters and only walked three. He got 15 whiffs against Kansas City hitters, and 28% of his pitches were either called strikes or a whiff (CSW rate). His curveball continued to be outstanding. It got a 73% strike rate against the Royals and a whiff on nine of his 37 curves thrown in that game.
He left the game after throwing 98 pitches, with 60 of them going for strikes. The Astros clung to a 1-0 lead at the time. Unfortunately for him, he did get the victory after closer Josh Hader gave up two runs to the Royals in the top of the ninth inning. Fortunately for us, Jose Altuve's double in the bottom of the ninth inning scored the winning run to preserve our play on the Astros.
Valdez begins September with a 13-6 record in his twenty-four starts. In his 150 1/3 innings, he has a 3.11 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He should get another five starts before the end of the regular season to build on those numbers.
Good luck - TDG.
Since Valdez began relying more on his curveball, he has gotten into one of the best grooves of his career. After not throwing his curveball more than 32% of the time in any start all season, Valdez used his curveball for a season-high (at the time) in 39% of his pitches on July 10th. He struck out ten batters and gave up only one earned run in seven innings against Miami. Since that effort, Valdez has thrown his curveball at least 37% of the time.
In his last eight starts, the lefty has a 2.25 era and a 0.87 whip. He has struck out 67 strikeouts in those 52 innings. Averaging 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings while also inducing ground balls in 60% of the batted balls against him is a lethal combination. That season ground ball rate ranks in the 97th percentile in MLB. Opposing hitters have a low barrel rate of their batted balls against him of just 4.7%, ranking in the highest tenth percentile.
In what was our MLB American League Game of the Month for August, Valdez looked poised to pitch a great game against the Royals. Hitting is down this season with the MLB batting average at .244, the on-base percentage at .313, and the slugging percentage at .401. Kansas City has .270/.331/.445 hitting plays when playing at home at Kauffman Stadium. Yet on the road going into that game, the Royals' splits dropped to .244/.296/.402 which is right at or below (the on-base percentage) the MLB average.
As expected, Valdez was brilliant. He did not allow a hit in his seven scoreless innings of work. He struck out seven batters and only walked three. He got 15 whiffs against Kansas City hitters, and 28% of his pitches were either called strikes or a whiff (CSW rate). His curveball continued to be outstanding. It got a 73% strike rate against the Royals and a whiff on nine of his 37 curves thrown in that game.
He left the game after throwing 98 pitches, with 60 of them going for strikes. The Astros clung to a 1-0 lead at the time. Unfortunately for him, he did get the victory after closer Josh Hader gave up two runs to the Royals in the top of the ninth inning. Fortunately for us, Jose Altuve's double in the bottom of the ninth inning scored the winning run to preserve our play on the Astros.
Valdez begins September with a 13-6 record in his twenty-four starts. In his 150 1/3 innings, he has a 3.11 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He should get another five starts before the end of the regular season to build on those numbers.
Good luck - TDG.
