Inside the Astros

Houston Astros Ace Ranked As Top 50 Player in League by MLB Network

As MLB Network continues to roll out its #Top100RightNow rankings, Houston Astros ace Framber Valdez has made the top 50.

Kyle Morton

Sep 24, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez (59) pitches against the Seattle Mariners in there first inning at Minute Maid Park.
Sep 24, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez (59) pitches against the Seattle Mariners in there first inning at Minute Maid Park. / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
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MLB Network is currently in the midst of the process of unveiling its Top 100 Right Now rankings ahead of the start of the 2025 season, and Wednesday night's new batch of rankings showed the respect that Houston Astros ace Framber Valdez has built up in league circles.

After a season in which he hurled 176.1 innings pitched while allowing only a 2.91 ERA across 28 starts, MLB Network ranked Valdez as the No. 45 overall player in the league today.

Valdez has spent the past half decade establishing himself as one of the most reliable starting pitchers in the game. He's stayed relatively healthy, making at least 22 starts in each of the last four seasons in at least 28 in each of the last three.

With that elite level of availability, Valdez has also generated results that place him among the elite ranks of the game's hurlers. In the past four campaigns, his ERA marks are 3.14, 2.82, 3.45 and 3.2.91.

In an environment where even the best starting pitchers are subject to down years and where second Tommy John surgeries are closer and closer to becoming the norm, Valdez has been that rare starter who can take the ball every fifth day and give his team a strong chance to win every single time out.

That quality has proven to be a godsend for the Astros, who have seen their embarrassment of riches in terms of pitching turn into increasingly desperate situations due to rashes of injuries.

The likes of Lance McCullers Jr., Justin Verlander, Jose Urquidy, J.P. France, Cristian Javier, and Luis Garcia have all missed significant time at points during the last four years, leaving Valdez as the lone constant in a rotation for a team that has won the World Series in that span and has that as the goal every single year.

Valdez's success over the years has come in large part thanks to his lethal curveball, a looper of a pitch that ranks among the very best in the game. His fastball offerings are deeply effective at generating weak contact, particularly via the ground ball.

His legacy in Houston is forever cemented due to his performance during the 2022 World Series run, in which he made four starts with a 1.44 ERA while striking out an uncharacteristically high 33 batters in 25 innings pitched.

Looking ahead to 2025, Valdez is set to anchor Houston's rotation once again, but speculation abounds as to where the 31 year old will spend the next chapter of his career, as he is due to hit free agency after this upcoming campaign.

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Kyle Morton
KYLE MORTON

Kyle Morton has covered various sports from amateur to professional level athletics. A graduate of Fordham University, Kyle specializes in MLB and NHL coverage while having previous bylines with SB Nation, The Hockey Writers, HighSchoolOT, and Sports World News. He spent time working the beat for the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes and is an avid fan of the NHL, MLB, NFL and college basketball. Enjoys the outdoors and hiking in his free time away from sports.

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