José Valdespina

From BR Bullpen

José Alexander Valdespina Ruiz

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 6", Weight 220 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

José Valdespina peaked at AAA. He also has pitched for the Dominican national team.

Valdespina was signed by Texas Rangers scout Roberto Aquino in February 2011. [1] He was 2-3 with a save and a 2.82 ERA for the 2011 DSL Rangers 1. He came stateside in 2012 with the Spokane Indians and fell to 3-6, 5.58. He was 4th in the Northwest League in losses, 4th in walks (34), 2nd in hit batsmen (11) and led in balks (6). Moving to relief, he was 4-1 with 2 saves and a 5.70 ERA for the Hickory Crawdads, K'ing 46 in 42 2/3 IP. In 2014, he was 2-2 with 9 saves, a .217 opponent average (.172 by righties) and a 2.18 ERA for Hickory. [2] He made his Dominican Winter League debut with the Tigres del Licey with 1 2/3 shutout IP (2 H, 3 BB). He split 2015 between the High Desert Mavericks (1-1, 4 Sv, 2.25 in 25 G) and the Frisco RoughRiders (2.31 in 8 G), again doing a fine job.

In 2016, he was with Frisco (4-1, 3 Sv, 4.01 in 31 G) and the Round Rock Express (0-1, Sv, 2.45 in 9 G), making his AAA debut. With the Tigres, he worked a shutout inning, with one hit allowed. He bounced around the Rangers chain in 2017, struggling with the Express (1-1, 16.50 in 5 G, 16 H in 6 IP), RoughRiders (0-1, 4.50 in 3 G), Down East Wood Ducks (Sv, 3.22 in 15 G) and AZL Rangers (1 R in 2 IP). With Licey, he once again turned in a shutout inning, allowing one hit. He finished his time in the Rangers chain at 18-17, 4.03 with 21 saves in 184 games (25 starts).

The tall right-hander led the Dominicans with four games pitched in the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games. In 3 2/3 innings, he allowed two hits and two walks while fanning one. Despite pitching the most games for his country, he was their only pitcher with a 0.00 ERA. For the 2018 Games, only Aaron Kurcz, Fernando Cruz and Bryan Escanio pitched more games. [3]

Sources[edit]

  1. 2017 Rangers Media Guide, pg. 179
  2. ibid.
  3. 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games