Astros pitcher wins his first career weekly award
Major League Baseball announced that Houston Astros LHP Framber Valdez has been named the American League Player of the Week for the week of July 31-August 6. This marks the first career AL Player of the Week award for Valdez.
On Tuesday, Valdez tossed his first career no-hitter against the Cleveland Guardians. It was the Astros 15th regular season no-hitter and the first no-hitter thrown by a left-handed pitcher in franchise history. Valdez needed only 93 pitches to complete his gem, which ranks as the third-lowest total in a no-hitter since pitch counts started being tracked in 1988. The others were tossed by the Astros RHP Daryl Kile (83 pitches) on September 8, 1993 and the Yankees RHP David Cone (88 pitches) on July 18, 1999. Also, it was the first Astros no-hitter by a single pitcher since RHP Justin Verlander tossed one on September 1, 2019 at Toronto, and the first no-hitter at Minute Maid Park since a combined no-hitter on August 3, 2019 vs. Seattle, which was started by RHP Aaron Sanchez. According to STATS, the Astros have thrown five no-hitters in five years (2019-23), including the postseason, which is the most no-hitters by any team over a five-year span in MLB history.
Valdez becomes the second Astros player to win AL Player Week this season, joining Chas McCormick, who did so from July 14-16.