The Houston Astros are set to take the field against the New York Yankees for Game 2 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS).
The Astros took Game 1 with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday behind star pitcher Justin Verlander.
They have a prime chance to go to New York with a 2-0 lead behind their co-ace Framber Valdez.
The left-hander had a fantastic season, the best of his career: in 201.1 frames, he had a 2.82 ERA and induced a groundball rate of 66.5%.
When you have Alex Bregman, Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel as your infield defense, inducing so many groundballs is not a bad idea.
Evidently, Valdez is, by definition, a sinkerballer.
Valdez Is Much More Than Just A Sinkerballer
He throws his effective sinker 50.9 percent of the time, and is the pitch he uses to induce soft contact on the ground.
When he has batters in two strikes, however, the talented lefty uncorks one of the most effective curveballs in baseball.
“Framber Valdez looks to break out his curve tonight in ALCS Game 2. #postseason,” MLB Stats tweeted, with some amazing facts about his hook.
Framber Valdez looks to break out his curve tonight in ALCS Game 2. #postseason
(MLBStats x @GoogleCloud) pic.twitter.com/cepz4nHmUX
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) October 20, 2022
As it turns out, Valdez led MLB in strikeouts earned by throwing curveballs as the put-away pitch, with 126.
He just topped curveball artist Charlie Morton, now with the Atlanta Braves, who had 123.
So, to sum up, Valdez is more than just a sinkerballer: he can get you to hit a weak grounder to the pitcher, just as much as he can make you miss on a curveball at the dirt.
The recipe made him one of the very best left-handers in baseball, and a dream pitcher for every manager at any instance.
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