WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Bill Murphy makes the same trip every winter, whether the Astros won a World Series or just watched their pitchers sputter on the sport’s biggest stage. Five indispensable members of Houston’s pitching staff reside in the Dominican Republic, so Murphy finds it valuable to visit them at home during the offseason.
“It’s something I really enjoy,” said Murphy, one of the team’s two major-league pitching coaches. “It’s always nice to see them, check in, see how they’re doing and see how I can help. It gives you information on what you can help with. If you can get your eyes on them, you can help them a little bit better.”
Murphy’s trips aren’t meant to attract headlines, but he understood why one this winter would. His arrival marked the beginning of a massive season for Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier, two Dominican-born starters whose second-half struggles sent Houston’s already-thin rotation into a tailspin.
After the All-Star break, only nine rotations had a higher ERA than Houston’s. Valdez and Javier teamed to throw 157 ⅔ innings and post a 4.74 ERA — matching the entire rotation’s mark across the season’s final 71 games.
Their nadir arrived in the American League Championship Series. Valdez started twice and permitted seven earned runs across 7 ⅔ innings. Given a chance to pitch his team to a pennant, Javier procured one out and permitted three runs during a disastrous start in Game 7, a fitting end to a flummoxing season from two pitchers thought of as American League Cy Young candidates.
“The success of a pitching staff is based on starting pitching. We have full confidence that they’re going to get back,” Murphy said. “Did they struggle for certain points of the year? Yes, but as we know, baseball is a game of luck. Sometimes it’s going really good, sometimes it’s going really bad. There’s no doubt some things you can control. We’ve worked hard to try to fix some of those things and make slight adjustments, but they’re going to have monster years.”
Justin Verlander remains the team’s unquestioned ace, but both Javier and Valdez boast the arsenal and past achievements to pair with him atop the rotation. Javier sported a 2.54 ERA in 2022 and, during the ensuing winter, signed a $64 million contract extension. Valdez has finished in the top 10 of American League Cy Young voting during each of the past two seasons.
No two players are more crucial to the Astros’ pursuit of another pennant. Uncertainty surrounding Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia’s effectiveness coupled with Hunter Brown’s relative inexperience magnify a need for Valdez and Javier to find themselves. A rebound from both starters won’t just be welcomed — it’s almost required for the Astros to accomplish any of their goals.
“It’s in the past, but obviously we’re always working to be better than we were last year in 2023,” Valdez said this week through an interpreter. “I’m going to continue to try to be better and have more consistency in the game.”
Reasons for their decline vary. Javier’s workload and weight became an issue. Valdez suffered some minor injuries, sometimes lost his release point and allowed emotion to overtake him during certain starts.
Neither pitcher ended the season with much success, but perspective is paramount. Javier handled his first season as a full-time starter and eclipsed 170 innings for the first time as a major-leaguer. Coaches now believe fatigue hampered Javier throughout the season, especially after ramping up early to pitch in last March’s World Baseball Classic.
“He didn’t pitch in the World Series (last season), didn’t have to get ready for the WBC, he got a full ramp-up, that’s going to be extremely beneficial for him,” Murphy said.
At the All-Star break, Valdez had the lowest ERA of any major-league starter and — if not for owner Jim Crane and general manager Dana Brown denying him the chance — could have started the Midsummer Classic.
Valdez threw a no-hitter on Aug. 1 against the Cleveland Guardians, too, a stroke of brilliance amid an otherwise brutal downturn. He had a 5.19 ERA across his 13 other second-half starts. Some nagging injuries and soreness contributed to the spiral, but so did the disappearance of Valdez’s menacing sinker.
Most of Valdez’s work this winter involved “trying to get his sinker back,” Murphy said. The pitch generated just a 54.3 percent groundball rate last season, down from 68.6 percent in 2022 and 74.9 percent in 2021.
Valdez still generated the highest groundball rate of any qualified American League starter, but found his sinker getting lifted for line drives or home runs far too often. Hitters slugged .455 against his sinker, which Valdez threw at an average of 95.3 mph — harder than at any point in his career.
More velocity can impact the pitch’s downward movement and make it easier to elevate, but Valdez said watching his velocity is not a focus in spring training.
“We haven’t talked to him about trying to throw slower, but similar to (Javier) he was definitely yanking out and raising his arm slot, maybe trying to throw too hard,” Murphy said. “That flattened the sinker. So that’s something we’ve definitely been trying to work on, getting him to trust the delivery that he has and allowing the movement to take over.”
Neither Javier nor Valdez needs premium velocity to succeed, yet Murphy hinted both pitchers were trying to reach for it last season. Javier hovers around the low 90s with his four-seam fastball, but thrives on the deception his delivery creates.
Subtle mechanical flaws ruined it last season, one where Javier posted a 4.56 ERA and struck out a career-low 8.8 batters per nine innings. This week, Javier acknowledged he carried some extra weight that may have contributed to the changes in his delivery. He shed around 15 pounds this offseason with the help of strength and conditioning coach Hazael Wessin, another member of Houston’s staff that spent his winter in the Dominican Republic.
Murphy said he did not even realize Javier set out to lose weight until the pitcher himself revealed it in camp this week. Most of their work this winter focused on Javier’s delivery and doing what Murphy said is more “natural” for Javier.
“He was trying to throw a little too hard, was yanking balls and we tried to get him to relax, trust his fastball and get back to really what made him special: throwing his fastball how he naturally could, throwing it in the zone and baffling hitters,” Murphy said.
“When you try to throw too hard too early, you yank your head out of the way, you basically yank your glove and you’ll end up cutting the ball. What we were trying to get him to do is trust his feet in the ground, rotate and throw instead of trying to manufacture trying to throw hard. You know Javi — he was trying to do maybe a little too much to throw hard.”
Murphy’s message to both pitchers seemed similar. Both have established themselves as top-of-the-rotation starters by remaining within themselves and not trying to show something they don’t possess. Houston’s coaching staff feels both have rediscovered their vintage form. Now, they’re required to show it.
“I was confident with my pitches in 2023, but everybody has their highs and lows,” Valdez said. “I feel even more comfortable and confident with those pitches now, so I’m going to continue to do that.”
(Top photo of Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier: Bob Levey/Getty Images)
