Not much has gone according to plan thus far this season for the Detroit Tigers. With a 30-42 record, the team is currently in fourth place in the American League Central. The team’s ace and arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Tarik Skubal, missed extended time from elbow surgery, and it is looking more and more like he will be traded before the trade deadline.
Skubal isn’t the only pitcher who was supposed to give the team’s rotation a big boost this year, though. The Tigers signed Framber Valdez to one of the biggest free agent contracts of the offseason, and the ex-Houston Astro was expected to form arguably the best one-two punch in baseball alongside the back-to-back Cy Young winner.
Valdez long served as the ace of an Astros team that was always in contention. The Dominican debuted on the major league roster one year after the team won the 2017 World Series, and they proceeded to make it to at least the ALCS over each of the next six years. Valdez struggled some last year, though. His numbers fell of a cliff at the end of the season, and he earned plenty of flak for an incident where he seemingly intentionally hit his own catcher. Even so, Detroit’s signing of Valdez was applauded because it was believed he’d return to form this year.
So far, that hasn’t happened. The two-time All-Star is putting up career-worsts across the board. Now, he is making his return to Houston. So, ahead of Valdez’s revenge game, what has led to his struggles?
What is wrong with Framber Valdez?
Through 14 starts this season, Valdez has gone just 3-5 and has a 4.40 ERA. He also has a 1.339 WHIP and 29 walks. These are all much worse marks than normal for the starter. In the past, Valdez has twice led the AL in complete games, twice led the league in shutouts, once in home runs per nine innings, and once in batters faced.
He has thrived in the past because of his ability to force opposing batters into ground balls. Historically, Valdez has attacked the bottom of the strike zone and displayed a deadly sinker that is tough to make solid contact with. This year, Valdez isn’t hitting the bottom of the zone as frequently as usual. In fact, The Athletic reports that the 2.47 feet average height on his sinker is the heighest mark of his career. That has allowed batters to square up his pitchers more often, and the reason may stem from the new automated ball-strike system. ABS challenges have changed the strike zone somewhat, slightly raising it from below the kneecap and forcing Valdez to somewhat sacrifice what he is best at.
A disastrous game against the Boston Red Sox, which included Valdez being suspended for five games after hitting Trevor Story with a pitch, also slowed the momentum of Valdez’s best stretch of the season. A 67-minute rain delay in his most recent outing didn’t help, either.
Valdez also isn’t striking out batters (7.1 K/9) like usual, and the 48 percent of his pitches in the strike zone is the worst mark since he was a rookie. Valdez is 32 years old, so regression was to be expected, especially considering he had a 6.05 ERA in the final 10 games of the season last year.
The pitcher recently revealed that the Astros never contacted him about a return to Houston before he left for Detroit in free agency. That surely feeds fuel to Valdez’s fire, so perhaps a revenge game will get him back on track.
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