The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted right-handed pitcher Ryan Valdes in the 33rd round in the 2017 draft. He was a 23-year-old (turned 24 in August) fifth year college player, who wasn’t the typical pitcher you see the Pirates draft. With almost every older player selected, there is a back story of why they got attention later in their career and Valdes fits that mold perfectly.
The first thing that stands out with Valdes is that he doesn’t stand out. The Pirates seem to stockpile right-handed pitchers who are somewhere between 6’3″ and 6’4″ each year in the draft. In the land of tall pitchers, Valdes is just 5’11”, 185 pounds, which is small by baseball standards. You will find the occasional pitch under 6’0″ in the system, including another late round draft pick who is a favorite for many fans. Montana DuRapau is also listed at 5’11” and he was drafted in the 32nd round in 2014. He was also old for his draft class. Just three years later, DuRapau has already made it to Indianapolis.
Valdes doesn’t have to look far for someone who has a similar draft story and has had success with the Pirates. He may have to look a bit to find someone who has a pitch as interesting as his best offering though. Valdes throws a palmball and it got him a lot of attention during his college days.
“It’s a cool pitch,” Valdes said. “Other team’s scouts called it the mystery pitch because they don’t know how I hold it the way I do and get the action out of it. I throw it with only my thumb touching the ball and no other fingers.”
Valdes started learning that pitch at a young age and the reason for it was one that we have heard from many other pitchers recently. Except in their case, it’s why they have an advanced changeup at a young age. His dad didn’t want him throwing curveballs, so he had to either throw a changeup or invent a pitch on his own that he threw like a fastball. From his father’s desire to protect his son’s arm at a young age, a palmball pitcher was born.
Most palmballs are meant to act like changeups, giving you a fastball look, with late drop. The way Valdes throws it though, the pitch is almost like a slow breaking ball. He eventually added a curve, which he throws harder than the palmball. His fastball velocity was 91-93 MPH in college and showed some improvements as he went along in pro ball. A normal changeup would be 8-10 MPH slower than that, but Valdes throws his palmball in the 69-74 MPH range. The velocity range almost makes it two different pitches, as he gets that top-end speed by throwing it harder, but with the same grip. In essence, he has a changeup version of his palmball.
I mentioned Valdes adding some velocity recently and that’s also part of his background story. While going over the draft information for him, we noticed that he was injured during the 2016 season. The injury wasn’t mentioned, but it turned out to be fairly significant, and one of the reasons he lasted an extra year in college. Valdes had Tommy John surgery last year. It wasn’t your typical TJ surgery to replace a torn ligament either. He broke the bone in his arm where the ligament connects.
So this season was his first year back from the injury and you could see some of the effects of that late in the year. Valdes pitched great in the GCL during his debut, which you would expect from an older college player, but the placement makes more sense now when you realize he was barely 12 months removed from his surgery. He then went to Bristol after five games and was pitching great there as well, until his final two outings. After giving up three runs in his first 22.1 innings, Valdes surrendered seven runs over his final 2.1 innings.
He wore down at the end of the year and the Pirates noticed that when they brought him back to Pirate City in mid-September for the Fall Instructional League. While most pitchers are adding innings to their total, or working on a mechanical change or a new pitch, Valdes was doing something different.
” I was in more of a throwing program only,” he said about instructs. “I was coming off Tommy John, already throwing a lot of innings in both my college season and my first professional season, so I didn’t throw any innings.”
His off-season plan now is to put on some weight, which he says will help him maintain that higher velocity we saw this season, along with helping him trust his arm post-surgery.
Valdes is one of those lottery draft picks late in the draft. The improved velocity after his surgery was a great sign, as it doesn’t always return to pre-surgery standards. He’s an inexperienced pitcher for someone at his age, partially due to the missed time, but also the fact that he was a two-way player growing up. In 2014, he had 180 at-bats in college, and as a freshman the previous season, he didn’t even see the mound. Combined with one appearance in 2016, two of his five college seasons consisted of three innings total. There’s also the fact that he didn’t start throwing a curve until a later age than most pitchers, so it is somewhat new.
A pitcher who throws a fastball that reaches mid-90s, along with a very effective off-speed pitch, is the type of player who won’t need to show a lot of improvements to get to the higher levels. He could stand to throw more strikes, but command is one of the final things that returns for pitchers after Tommy John surgery. He had 33 strikeouts and a 1.67 GO/AO ratio in 24.2 innings between the GCL and Bristol, which are positive signs at the end of the return season from TJ surgery. Despite the age and size, there are thing to like about this late round pick.
Throwing a palmball is what will get Valdes attention at this point, but there is potential for a lot more.
