Framber's improved frame of mind is all thanks to this coach

HOUSTON -- Maybe you’ve seen Astros pitcher Framber Valdez sitting in the dugout this season with his eyes closed as if he were transporting himself to another world. Perhaps you’ve noticed him smiling as he walks around the mound getting ready to face another overmatched hitter.

These aren’t accidental mannerisms. They are intentional exercises the All-Star left-hander has trained himself to do to make sure he’s in the right frame of mind on the mound. For Valdez, the mental cues while he’s pitching are as important to his success as his sinker and his curveball, which is one of the most effective pitches in the game.

“That is really a way for me to relax my mind and relax my body so when I go back out on the mound, I can continue doing what I've been doing -- just throwing strikes and getting batters out,” Valdez said.

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After struggling to throw strikes in his first two years in the big leagues, Valdez has quietly positioned himself as one of the best southpaws in the game over the last three seasons. This year was his best yet. He went 17-6 with a 2.82 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 31 starts, setting a single-season Major League record by throwing 25 consecutive quality starts.

Valdez, fellow All-Star right-hander Justin Verlander (18-4, 1.75 ERA) and veteran right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. (4-2, 2.27 ERA) headline an imposing starting rotation the Astros hope will get them past the Mariners in the AL Division Series. Verlander will be on the mound for Game 1 on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park, with Valdez to pitch in Game 2.

“In [2018], ’19, stuff would bother him,” veteran catcher Martín Maldonado said. “If that would happen, he would finish pretty much in 2 1/3 innings. Now when he has a bad first inning, he continues to make pitches.”

That wasn’t the case in 2018 and ’19, when Valdez had trouble throwing strikes. His body language on the mound was a reflection of his struggles. That’s why he sought the help of Dr. Andy Nunez, who’s part of the Astros' mental skills group in the Dominican Republic. “Dr. Andy,” as he’s called by the players, specializes in helping the organization’s young Latin American players get in the right frame of mind and prepare them for life in the United States.

“He means a lot to me,” Valdez said. “I think I owe about 75 percent of my career to him. He taught me a lot about discipline, how to control my emotions and just staying engaged and staying focused.”

Nunez began working with Valdez early in 2020, when the lefty’s career was in the balance. In Valdez’s first 34 career games (13 starts) in ’18 and ’19, he had a 4.60 ERA with 68 walks in 107 2/3 innings (5.7 walks per nine innings). Despite having some of the best stuff in the game, as Angels star Mike Trout once said of Valdez, the results weren’t there.

“He was in a hard moment and situation a couple of years ago,” Nunez said. “We started working with him to try to change his mindset. Framber is a talented player. We tried to help him to get the tools to control himself, and we started a great mental skills program and now you can see the results. … He changed his life, he changed the way he played. He changed the way he sees life. It’s an all-around change, I think.”

Valdez and Nunez talk nearly every day, before and after Valdez pitches. Nunez coaches Valdez to improve the mental relationship he has with the game. Valdez used to get anxious before starts and nervous on the mound. When he wasn’t pitching well, it reflected in his actions. Nunez has taught Valdez to focus through relaxing, breathing and even yoga.

“The first point is he has to talk to me every day to make a plan,” Nunez said. “That’s so important, because he can’t go to the mound without any clear idea about the thing he has to do. I think you can see the results. This point changed the kind of relationship that he had with baseball, to try to control his energy -- yoga practice, mentalize. It is the kind of relationship we have. It’s based on trust. It’s based on the way he talks to me. I never stop him, just try to listen to him and give advice if he needs it. It’s continued work every day."

Astros international crosschecker Oz Ocampo -- who was instrumental in the signing of Valdez for $10,000 in 2015 at 21 years old -- and fellow pitchers Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier, among others, said Nunez helps Latin American players deal with the challenges they face, whether it’s signing with a new team or going to a new country. Nunez is also working closely with Javier and reliever Bryan Abreu, both of whom had the best seasons of their careers.

“He’s grown up so much, both on and off the field,” Ocampo said of Valdez. “You can see his mound presence and his body language and the way he approaches the game. If he has a pitch that’s off, for example, he’ll make the adjustment. He’ll take a breath and he’ll reset himself. That’s a lot of the product of the work of what Framber’s done, as well as what Dr. Andy has done with him and our pitching coaches.”

Valdez’s streak of 25 consecutive quality starts came to an end Sept. 24 in Baltimore, where he gave up seven runs (four earned) on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. After the game, he called Dr. Andy to review the outing and make sure he was maintaining his breathing and staying focused.

“We checked all the steps he took during the game and we discovered something -- he wasn’t breathing,” Nunez said. “I recognized he wasn’t breathing and he told me, ‘Dr. Andy, I think I wasn’t breathing.’ And I asked him, ‘How do you know?’ He said, ‘Because when you have a contraction in the muscle like you told me, I tried to put the ball in the catcher’s strike zone, but I don’t have the control because I wasn’t breathing.’”

As he gets set to make his first postseason start since two forgettable outings in last year’s World Series loss to the Braves, Valdez is in the best frame of mind he’s ever been.

“Thanks to Andy,” he said.