Framber Remains a Wild Ride

Jun 03, 2025

My son and I say it almost every time it’s Framber’s time in the rotation.

Either he comes to me, or I go to him; it’s like a game.

“We need “good” Framber today.”

They acknowledge it on the pregame show and even Blummer and TK mention it.

Everyone knows it, including Framber Valdez.

As his last performance showed, “Good Framber” is among the best in the game.

The problem is you’re never quite sure which Framber you’re going to get.

In the offseason, I compared his 2024 game scores to Tarik Skubal, Seth Lugo and Carlos Rodon.

Jan 2

This year, I have a new comparison: His teammate, Hunter Brown.

Once again, it’s easy to see the greater volatility across Valdez’s starts.

And it’s not just my eyes, or the chart, mathematically there’s a larger Standard Deviation in Framber’s starts.

The highs are a bit higher, but the lows are more frequent and, with one exception, much lower than Browns.

We should be encouraged by Valdez’s last five starts, with none registering below a 60.

But until consistency becomes the norm, as it has for Brown, one of us will continue our “tradition”.

Game Score by Start

Below are the game scores by start for every Astros starter in 2025.

Note that this is by start for the pitcher and not by date.

In other words, start one game for Valdez on opening day, while start one for Gordon came on May 14.

Here is the average game score per start.

Note that I’m using the Fangraphs version of Game Score.

I put this in it’s own section, but no one is reading it, so I thought I’d put it here for a change.

As always, thanks for reading!