Merkin Valdez | |||
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Pitcher | |||
Born: San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic |
November 10, 1981 |||
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MLB debut | |||
August 1, 2004, for the San Francisco Giants | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
September 25, 2011, for the Texas Rangers | |||
MLB statistics (through 2011 season) |
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Win–loss record | 3–1 | ||
Earned run average | 5.57 | ||
Strikeouts | 59 | ||
Teams | |||
Merkin R. Valdéz Mola (born November 10, 1981 in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. Valdez graduated from Escuela Rural Palenque High School in his native Dominican Republic.
Valdez was signed by the Atlanta Braves as an amateur free agent in 1999. He played with the Braves Dominican League team in 2000 and 2001 and the Gulf Coast Braves in 2002.
He was traded by the Braves with Damian Moss to the San Francisco Giants for Russ Ortiz on December 17, 2002. He was named San Francisco's Minor League Player of the Year and selected as a Low A All-Star in 2003 when he went 9-5 with a 2.25 ERA for the Hagerstown Suns in the South Atlantic League. In 2004, Valdez pitched for Single-A San Jose Giants, Double-A Norwich Navigators, Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies, and made his Major League debut on August 1, 2004 against the St. Louis Cardinals. He appeared in 2 games for the Giants, working 1.2 innings for a 27.00 ERA. Valdez was selected to the World squad for the All-Star Futures Game for 3 consecutive years (2003–05), held in conjunction with MLB All-Star festivities.
He spent all of 2005 in Norwich, and all of 2006 in Fresno, until injuring his arm. He missed the entire 2007 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on September 27, 2006.