Valdez: Recovery ‘bit of a miracle’
Moments after fracturing his left ring finger, Framber Valdez faced a decision. He prides himself on a high pain tolerance — he calls it part of Dominican culture. Valdez threw 19 pitches after sustaining the injury on March 2 in a Grapefruit League game against the Mets. Four got him through the first inning. The next 14 revealed the true nature of this injury.
“I wanted to see how serious it actually was, I wanted to see if I could get through it and work through it and get better,” Valdez said Friday through an interpreter. “After I threw that next inning, I felt it was actually pretty serious.”
In the ensuing days, Valdez visited doctors that delivered devastating news. A “possibility” existed that he could miss the entire season. On Friday, Valdez — who was not made available for an interview after March 2 — called the injury “a bad break to the finger.”
Valdez said he and the team opted for “physical therapy” as means to treat the injury. A second opinion visit to Dr. Steven Shin in Los Angeles showed “significant healing.” Shin did not recommend surgery. Valdez set out on a miraculous return, seeking to reprise his form from a breakout 2020 season.
“It was a little bit of a miracle that we were able to recover as quickly as it’s happened,” Valdez said, “but I’ve just been working and recovering as quickly as I can.”
Valdez returned to Houston on Friday for the first time in his three-month process. He threw a 25pitch bullpen session at Minute Maid Park for the team’s athletic trainers and coaching staff.
Valdez said he will begin a minor league rehab assignment with a threeinning stint at Class AAA Sugar Land on Sunday when the team is in Round Rock. Neither Valdez nor manager Dusty Baker had a clear timeline of when he may return to the rotation, but June seems like a logical target.
Baker watched Valdez’s bullpen session on Friday. He reported Valdez’s trademark breaking ball appeared “better than it was before.” Valdez thinks his changeup has improved as a result of the injury. The injury did not force Valdez to change any of his grips or alter his mechanics.
“The reports were that he was looking good,” Baker said. “He’s already a medical marvel. He’s doing great. He was so happy to be back and we were happy to see him.”
Altuve coming into typical form
Troy Snitker turned toward the scoreboard on Thursday night and noticed a familiar sight. The Astros’ analytically-savvy hitting coach does not pay much mind to surface numbers or stats. Snitker has far more detailed data to pore over inside the dugout. For a brief moment, though, Snitker allowed himself some perspective — Jose Altuve is inching toward more typical numbers.
“You look up and it’s like ‘Oh, he’s getting close to .300 again, getting close to an .800 OPS again,’ ” Snitker said Friday. “I think we just expect that to keep going up. He’s headed in the right direction for sure.”
Since hitting a three-run home run on his birthday against the Yankees, Altuve is on a 12-for-31 tear, bringing his batting line to more respectable numbers. He entered that series in New York with a .661 OPS. He’s raised it more than 100 points.
Altuve supplied another Thursday against the Rangers. He hit starter Mike Foltynewicz’s second pitch of the game for a single and bounced a firstpitch double with the bases loaded in the second.
On Wednesday, Altuve hit Angels starter Andrew Heaney’s first pitch of the game for a solo home run, illustrating a far more aggressive approach from the leadoff spot. Altuve has a .316/.300/.579 slash line this season when swinging at the first pitch of a plate appearance.
“He knows that he’s at his best when he is aggressive and he’s thinking ‘yes, yes yes’ from the beginning,” Snitker said. “I think it’s just as simple as that. When he’s ready to hit and he’s thinking ‘go,’ he’s going to swing at better pitches and he’s going to produce better swings. He’s talked about it this year: I want to be ready to go and be aggressive.”
Manager Dusty Baker gave Altuve day off on Friday against the Rangers. Altuve had started 17 consecutive games since contracting COVID-19 in midApril, and Baker noticed he was “sore” in “some of his movements.” Altuve is scheduled to return to the lineup Saturday.
Urquidy remains sidelined for now
An MRI on José Urquidy’s right shoulder “didn’t show anything significant” but the Astros righthander remains shut down with muscle inflammation.
Urquidy departed his start on Wednesday after only 44 pitches and 32⁄3 innings. The velocity on his fastball and curveball dropped drastically, prompting catcher Martín Maldonado to summon pitching coach Brent Strom and assistant athletic trainer Lee Meyer to the mound. The Astros described his injury as “posterior shoulder discomfort.”
“I felt a little discomfort in my shoulder a little bit, a little cramp in the beginning of the fourth inning,” Urquidy said Friday. “I felt something uncomfortable in me and decided to stop my game right there.”
Urquidy said this is the first shoulder injury of his career. He did not have a timetable for when he may resume playing catch or return to the rotation. Houston has not placed him on the injured list.
An off day Monday — Urquidy’s next scheduled turn in the rotation — gives the Astros some time and flexibility with their starting rotation. Manager Dusty Baker would not commit to Urquidy making a start during next week’s three-game series in Oakland. The off day would allow the Astros to throw Cristian Javier, Zack Greinke and Luis Garcia on regular rest vs. the A’s.
Skeeters shut down Express
C.J. Hinojosa and Miguelangel Sierra homered, Brett Conine tossed five scoreless innings and the Sugar Land Skeeters beat the Round Rock Express 5-1 on Friday in Round Rock.
Jose Siri’s seventhinning two-RBI double gave him 20 RBIs for the season, tops in the minors.
Conine allowed two hits and struck out four for the Skeeters (7-1).
Yohel Pozo drove in the only run for Round Rock (5-3) with a seventh-inning RBI fielder’s choice.