'He wants the ball': Valdez aims to regain past playoff form

HOUSTON -- There was little doubt the Astros were going to give the ball to veteran left-hander Framber Valdez for Tuesday’s Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series against the Tigers, but what kind of postseason pitcher they’ll get remains to be seen.

Will it be the Valdez who was nearly untouchable in four starts for the Astros on their way to the 2022 World Series title? Or will it be the wobbly Valdez who lost all three of his playoff starts last year while posting a 9.00 ERA?

Astros manager Joe Espada has no doubts.

“I expect Framber to go out there and perform the way Framber has performed this entire second half,” Espada said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the league and he wants the ball. I expect him to go out there tomorrow and give us a great start.”

Valdez should earn some AL Cy Young votes following a strong season in which he went 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA and 169 strikeouts in 176 1/3 innings. He’s not likely to win it, though. Tarik Skubal, who starts for Detroit in Game 1, is a shoo-in for the award after winning the AL pitching Triple Crown with 18 wins, a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts.

While this will be Skubal’s first playoff start, it will be Valdez’s 16th, including his fourth in Game 1 of a series. His previous Game 1 start came in the 2021 World Series, when he lasted two innings and gave up five runs against the Braves. He understands the weight of the assignment.

“Being No. 1 when you start a playoff game for your team, obviously it means something to me and I take a lot of pride and I’m very excited and full of pride and ready to go,” Valdez said through an interpreter.

Valdez’s poor performance in last year’s playoffs still weighs on his mind, and it will serve as motivation to rise to the occasion for an Astros team with World Series aspirations.

“I didn’t pitch how I wanted to, didn’t pitch how I know I could and just came in this year with a lot more energy,” Valdez said.

Valdez has pitched as well as anyone in the second half of the season. He started throwing his curveball more and went 10-2 with a 2.19 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP in his final 16 starts, with the Astros going 14-2 in those games.

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As always, maintaining his focus will be key for Valdez to maintain this level of effectiveness.

“I started attacking the strike zone a lot more in the second half as compared to before,” Valdez said. “And just throwing pitches with confidence and throwing them to the correct locations.”

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch saw firsthand how Valdez worked to harness his terrific stuff early in his career. Hinch was managing the Astros when Valdez made his debut in 2018, but it wasn’t until the pandemic-shortened '20 season that Valdez began to find consistency. He finished fifth in AL Cy Young voting in 2022, topping 200 innings, and he's since become one of the game’s best southpaws.

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“When he broke in, you could see the stuff was incredible,” Hinch said. “You could see the unique movement, the hard breaking ball, the durable body and someone who took the mound and tried to attack every hitter. I think it’s hard to predict what guys are going to have that kind of success, but from an ingredients standpoint it was really fun to watch him break into the big leagues and become more and more dominant as he’s gotten more and more in the strike zone and around the strike zone.

“He gets a ton of chase, he gets a ton of soft contact, he has weapons for everybody. He’s been really good against left-handed hitters, not that unexpected given his stuff. I think his world has calmed down around him in terms of his maturity competitively, pitching on the big stage. He’s pitched as important of games as anybody in that room.”

Valdez still tends to walk a fine line between the unstable rookie and the untouchable ace, but his teammates have nothing but confidence in him.

“He’s always going to give you a chance to win,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “We are really happy that we have him on the mound tomorrow.”