The easiest thing to do in sports is to have feelings based on recency bias. Do we remember the many good plays C.J. Stroud made for the Texans during a 10 game winning streak in 2025? (OK, he was out with a concussion for the first three of those games, but you understand where I am coming from). No, we are hung up on two bad playoff appearances on the road in crappy weather and with a number of his weapons out injured.
The same thing with Framber Valdez. The man was awful down the stretch of the 2025 season along with having a psychological meltdown using his catcher as a large pin cushion. But during his career with the Astros he was good to very good – except when he wasn’t.
Let’s take a few moments to appreciate some of Framber’s best moments:
No-no Nanette
As good as Valdez could be, throwing a no-hitter was never a sure thing. This was because when he was at his best he was making the opponents put the ball in play, usually on the ground and usually not that hard hit. But it could result in a dribbler that no one could get into their glove.
But on Aug. 1, 2023 he had no problems in throwing a 93 pitch complete game no-hitter at home against the Guardindians. His teammates scored twice behind him and he made it count giving up 1 walk and striking out 7 in a masterwork of a win.
Quality, Not Quantity
Perhaps, a pitcher putting up a quality start in any particular game is not that big of a deal. Holding the opponent to three or fewer earned runs in 6 or more innings would seem to be a starting pitcher’s job description. But doing it 25 straight starts is a big deal, such a big deal. Framber Valdez was the first one to do it. Framber started the streak on April 25, 2022, and it ended on September 18th of the same year.
Quality With a Very Small Quantity
In a May 30 game last season against the Tampa Bay Rays, Framber got very aggressive in the strike zone against a team that was very aggressive themselves. The result was a complete-game win in just 83 pitches, tied for the fewest pitches in an Astro game since pitch counts were tracked in 1988. It tied the late Daryl Kile, who threw 83 pitches in his 1993 no hitter.
And Framber would not have gotten this honor, except for Yainer Diaz’s two out walk-off in the ninth.
When It Counted (Sometimes)
He has had some bad playoff performances including the WS against Atlanta and his last 3 playoff series.
But here we will recall some of his better performances.
- He got the team off to a nice start in the 2020 WC against the Twins, putting up 5 shutout innings of 2-hit ball in their first game win. (2020 was overall a nightmare year for the Astros with so many pitching injuries, but he carried them to the cusp of the WS.)
- In his only appearance against the A’s in the 2020 ALDS, he put up a solid 7 inning, 2 run win in game 2 to give the Astros their second road win on the way to a 3-1 series win.
- Against the Rays in the ALCS, he pitched well but lost the opener, giving up 2 runs over 6 innings. He did come back to win Game 6 giving up 1 run in 6 innings as the team dug out of a 0-3 hole to force (and lose) Game 7.
- In 2022, he helped the team out the most in the ALDS and the WS. Against the Yankees in the ALCS, he gave up 2 runs (0 earned) in 7 innings as the Astros won Game 2 on the way to a 4 game sweep.
- In the WS against the Phils, Framber had two big wins, first giving up 1 run in 6.1 innings to tie the series 1-1 in Game 2. Then in the Championship clinching Game 6, he gave up 1 run in 6 innings (waiting for Yordan Alvarez to hand him the win).
Recognition
Framber was recognized as one of the best pitchers in the AL on multiple occasions. This included being chosen for two All Star teams (2022, 2023), being in the top 11 in the Cy Young voting four times (2020, 2022-2024) and receiving MVP votes twice (2022 and 2024).
Obviously, there are a lot of other memories, including his passion, his hairstyles, his groundballs, etc. What will you remember about Framber Valdez?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
4 responses to “Framber Valdez: There were some Good Memories”
Good morning! Framber certainly had the ability to be as good as anyone at times. He showed it more often than not. And he could be a fun guy to watch. Sometimes he made it look easy when he got on a roll. Not many pitchers ever throw a complete game in this day and age. He’s still got some 27 out efforts in him.
I hope he and Skubal feed off of each other and win a whole bunch of games together. I hope Framber wins some big post season games again too.
But I’ll also remember some of his bad days. He’d forget to cover first. He was not very reliable at backing up his catcher. He’d make the worst throws from off the left side of the mound. He threw so many ground balls but didn’t catch many of the ones hit his way.
We’ve all got our demons. Framber is human. It’s got to be tough on him sometimes. We’re just the fans watching. We can’t know what goes on in that brain. I hope he has a career year. I hope he’s happy.
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Clearly I’m a hypocrite for pointing out that Kyle Tucker only has a .692 career OPS in the postseason for the millionth time and then trying to whitewash Framber’s postseason record. It’s easy to criticize the performance without acknowledging they are facing the league’s best. Tom Glavine is in the HOF, but he was terrible in All Star games and his postseason record was 14-16. Is Framber going to be good in Detroit? I’d be shocked if his performances weren’t closer to what he did in the first half of last year than the second. Is that worth $40M? I don’t think it is, but I still think he’s a really good pitcher. What about Skubal? Will he be worth $32M? I don’t know. Those two guys will make about as much money between them as the entire Minnesota payroll. As for Skubal, I’m skeptical of him continuing success. Everytime I watch I’m frustrated by our hitters looking so bad against him and it’s typically the fastballs up in the zone doing it. What happens when he loses a little movement and velocity on those? I’m actually rooting for a team like LAD or NYY to give him some astronomical contract he can’t live up to next winter. I guess I share the same concerns about Framber, but I think a 2-3 year contract is worth the risk (if not the dollars) as opposed to what Skubal is after.
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a lot of movement on his pitches. the curve moved a lot of course, but now and then it was hard to beleive how much the two seamer moved. And of course a lot of double plays behind him
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First basemen remain cheap. Goldschmidt re-upped with the Yankees at 4 million. I wonder what other clubs would have been willing to pay Walker going into last season?
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