Major Leaguer resume Vol.61/ WBC Player’s resume Vol.47: Framber Valdez (Houston Astros) : Major Candidate for Team Dominican Repbulic: “King of Quality Starts!”

Story:
Today's players' resume concerns the Houston Astros starter, Framber Valdez. He is from the Dominican Republic.

He could play for Team Dominican Republic in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

The KAISPO's baseball analyst commented,
"Valdez's father shed tears when he saw fans wearing jerseys of his son at the ballpark.

Valdez is a valuable starting pitcher who can stably keep his team in games. In 2022, he had 26 quality starts, the best in  MLB, making MLB record for his 25 consecutiveness. He also earned 17 wins following Verlander(18) in the AL to lift Houston to the World Series Title.

His strength is a well-breaking curveball whose batting average was .146, much lower than the MLB average. The swinging back of his left arm in his pitching form is minimal. So, he can throw with the same form with all kinds of his pitches. Batters will be hard to hit against such types of pitchers.

Verlander, one of the greatest pitchers in MLB, moved to the Mets. So, Valdez is the Key pitcher to aim at back-to-back World Series Title for the Astros."

Valdez signed the Houston Astros to a minor-league contract on March 19th, 2015. He made his big league debut against the Seattle Mariners on August 21st, 2018, tossing 4 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and one run, and striking out four to pick up his first career win. He was 4-1 with a 2.19 ERA in eight games with five starts in his rookie year.

In 2021, the 28-year-old left-hander went 11-6 with a 3.14 ERA over 22 starts, including his first complete game, although he missed about a month because of a fractured left ring finger during a spring training game.

In 2022, Valdez had a brilliant season. He earned his first win of the season, starting the Astros' opening game against the Los Angeles Angels. He got his career-high 13 strikeouts against the Angels, pitching six frames at Minute Maid Park on July 3rd. Valdez led the American League in innings pitched with 201.1, striking out 194 in the season. He had 17 wins(2nd most in the league), six losses with a 2.82 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP, and an MLB-best 26 quality starts across 31, including three complete games and an MLB-record 25 straight quality starts from April 25th to September 18th.
(MLB No.330 KAISPO No.1510)