Ismael Valdes  
Starting Pitcher | Montreal Expos

Pitching
It's tough to get much loft on the ball against him, as he works down in the strike zone to begin with and his two-seamer produces mostly groundballs. His changeup isn't bad... he fools his share of hitters. Valdes can get into trouble with walks, and there's concern about him being able to maintain his stuff over the whole season. His fastball is just average, and therefore he relies heavily on placing it in different parts of the strike zone or setting it up with his changeup. The one thing I must say I don't like about Valdes is how easily rattled he gets. If he makes a mistake to a hitter and the guy winds up on second or third, you can pretty much count on the guy scoring. If he ever adds a pitch to throw to lefties, he could make a big leap forward.

Defense & Hitting
Though he lacks a good pickoff move, he checks the running game with a compact stretch delivery. He tends to fall off slightly to the first-base side of the mound, making him vulnerable to bunts toward third base. He makes up for that minor flaw by being aggressive in fielding his position. Valdes is a surpisingly good hitting pitcher. And I'm not sure you can say this about a pitcher, but Valdes has some pop in his swing.

2010 Outlook
I really like what this guy brings to the table.

          -- Moostard Nyman
 

 

Year Team AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp Delivery Slot CH PH SP FA Nyman Rating
1998 BAL 84 84 74 73 59 39 55 44 52 61 69 62 0 50 0 0 23 4 Overhand DL 0 4 16 59 406
1999 BAL 85 84 80 73 59 39 55 44 52 61 69 62 0 50 0 0 24 5 Overhand Active 0 0 0 64 413
2000 BAL 88 86 80 73 59 39 55 44 52 70 69 62 0 50 0 0 25 6 Overhand Active 0 0 0 72 429
2001 BAL 88 87 80 73 59 39 55 44 52 70 69 65 0 50 0 0 26 7 Overhand Active 0 0 0 78 431
2002 BAL 92 90 80 73 59 39 55 44 52 70 69 65 0 50 0 0 27 8 Overhand Active 0 0 0 82 438
2003 BAL 92 92 80 73 59 39 55 44 52 70 78 65 0 50 0 0 28 9 Overhand Active 0 0 0 84 450
2004 BAL 88 90 85 58 59 39 55 44 52 79 83 61 0 40 0 0 29 10 Overhand Active 0 0 0 67 433
2005 BAL 88 91 85 59 59 39 55 44 52 79 83 61 0 50 0 0 30 11 Overhand Active 0 0 0 68 447
2006 BAL 86 91 85 61 59 39 55 44 52 79 83 61 0 50 0 0 31 12 Overhand Active 0 0 0 72 446
2007 BAL 86 91 85 62 59 39 55 44 52 79 83 61 0 57 0 0 32 13 Overhand Active 0 0 0 72 455
2008 MON 84 91 85 62 59 39 55 44 52 79 83 61 0 61 0 0 33 14 Overhand Active 0 0 0 72 457
2009 MON 92 89 85 62 59 39 55 44 52 79 83 61 0 61 0 0 34 15 Overhand Active 0 0 0 55 463
2010 MON 91 89 85 62 59 39 55 44 52 79 83 61 0 61 0 0 34 16 Overhand Active 0 0 0 57 463
Ratings Delta   -1                                 +1           +2  
History generated by Biorhythm v2.6.86 on Sun Nov 14 13:28:08 EST 2004

Data printed in red denotes that player was in the top two percent for that category and year. Blue data denotes membership to the bottom two percent.