Legitimate prospects out of Latin America sign for at least six-figure signing bonuses, and they do so when they are 16 years old. Anyone who signs for less or signs when they are older tends to be an afterthought.
Framber Valdez signed with the Astros for $10,000 as a 21-year-old on March 18, 2015. He was a shot in the dark, but it turned out to be one of the most important investments of the Astros’ Golden Era.
For six seasons, Valdez anchored the Astros’ rotation, as All-Stars left or got hurt and highly touted prospects failed to reach their potential.
In 154 regular season games (153 starts), Valdez went 73–44 with a 3.23 ERA in 973 innings. During that span, no pitcher won more games and only four pitchers threw more innings, and he became the second Astros pitcher since 1990 to finish with an ERA below 3.70 while throwing more than 170 innings for four straight seasons.
The Astros and Valdez were expected to part ways this winter, but the team’s signing of Tatsuya Imai all but guarantees it.
Valdez’s tenure with the Astros wasn’t without its issues, especially over the last two seasons, most notably when he threw at his own catcher in September, but there were few, if any, pitchers more reliable over the last six seasons, and banners hang inside Daikin Park because of him.
With the 2021 ALCS tied 2–2, Valdez allowed one run on three hits over eight innings in Game Five at Fenway Park to put the Astros on the brink of a third American League pennant in five years, and after Justin Verlander coughed up a 5–0 lead in Game One of the 2022 World Series, Valdez pitched into the seventh inning the next night and held the Phillies to just one run.
A week later, Valdez held the Phillies to a Kyle Schwarber solo homer over six innings in a series-clinching win. Valdez finished the 2022 postseason 3–0 with a 1.44 ERA in four starts.
It is fair to point out his deficiencies, especially since many were self-inflicted, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Valdez led baseball’s best pitching staff for six seasons, transforming himself from a talented enigma into a consistent force who performed at the highest level on the sport’s biggest stage.
Not bad for a $10,000 shot in the dark.
