Mark DeRosa reveals the secret to Framber's nasty curveball
UNCLE CHARLIE
20 September 2022
MLB Network's Mark DeRosa does an in-depth breakdown of Framber Valdez's legendary curveball after his historic 25th straight quality start in a season.
I highly recommend watching the video above to get a full sense of what makes this pitch so dominant. But to some it up, Framber's curve looks more like a fastball out of the hand than most curveballs. Meaning, Framber's curveball doesn't have any vertical lift when popping out of his hand, which often lets the hitter know a breaking ball is coming. Valdez's pitch stays on the same level plane longer and has more of a 12-6 break that allows him to use it in more ways, and in different parts of the strike zone. Having the 3rd-highest spin rate in MLB doesn't hurt either.
Mark explains in better than I can, so check it out if you like. Also, you can turn on the closed captioning in the video if you are unable to listen.
How the Astros keep showing what legit contenders look like
Jul 2, 2025, 11:17 pm
Jose Altuve hit a go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning to move into second place on Houston's career hits list and the Astros beat the Colorado Rockies 5-3 on Wednesday night to win their 12th straight series.
Jose Altuve DRVIES IN 2 ... and passes Jeff Bagwell for 2nd in career hits with the @astros#BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/IcLVdy5iOn
— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) July 3, 2025
Altuve went 2 for 5 and gave the Astros a 4-2 lead with his 2,315th career hit, moving him past Jeff Bagwell. Craig Biggio leads the franchise with 3,060 career hits.
Altuve spoke about his relationship with Bagwell, and more after the game.
Jose Altuve got a congratulatory text message postgame from Jeff Bagwell after passing him on the Astros’ all-time hits list. pic.twitter.com/KtKk28SZEt
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) July 3, 2025
Hunter Brown (9-3) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He struck out eight to join Lance McCullers Jr. as the only Astros pitchers to reach 500 in their first 86 appearances.
Bennett Sousa pitched the ninth for his third save.
Jake Meyers had a one-out double off Austin Gomber in the first and Altuve and Cam Smith followed with back-to-back singles for a 1-0 lead in the first.
Rookie Shay Whitcomb hit his first home run 451 feet to left-center field for a 2-0 lead in the second.
SHAY WHITCOMB! FIRST MAJOR LEAGUE HOMER! #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/zHfQUuIXnS
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 3, 2025
Cooper Hummel singled and Mauricio Dubón drew a walk off reliever Angel Chivilli (1-4) in the sixth. Altuve drove a two-out pitch from Jake Bird to center to score both. Smith followed with an RBI single for a 5-2 lead.
Cam makes it 5-2 Astros! #BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/j4xMIaY62F
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 3, 2025
Thairo Estrada went 3 for 4 and singled and scored ahead of Mickey Moniak's 12th home run to tie it 2-2 in the Rockies' second.
Gomber allowed two runs on eight hits in five innings.
Houston has won three in a row and 16 of 21.
Key moment
Brown struck out Hunter Goodman in the third for No. 500 and then fanned Jordan Beck swinging on a 99.8 mph fastball — his fastest this season — to end the inning.
Key stat
The Rockies have lost all 14 series at home, dropping the first two games 13 times.
Up next
Astros LHP Brandon Walter (1-1, 3.34 ERA) starts Thursday's series finale opposite Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-9, 5.56).
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