Jose Valverde

Jose Rafael Valverde is a professional baseball pitcher who hails from the Dominican Republic and specializes as a closer. Valverde made his way into the MLB as an undrafted free agent who came to replace the injury-struck Arizona Diamondbacks lineup in 2003. With both Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling out of the team, the pitching staff suddenly found it short-handed, with Brandon Webb and Andrew Good needing a good backup.

Valverde was never able to make his position permanent and was constantly fighting for his place with Brian Bruney. However, in 2005, he managed to make things work and got the closing spot for good, only to lose it again in June 2006 after running into pitching trouble. Jorge Julio took his place while Valverde was sent down to the Tucson Sidewinders, in the AAA-Division, to try and get things back to normal.

By September, Big Papa was back and broke Matt Mantei’s record for the Franchise to become the all-time saves leader, with his 75th save. At the 2007 MLB All-Star Game, Valverde was picked as the closing pitcher. At the end of the season, Valverde was traded out to the Houston Astros in exchange for Chad Qualls, Juan Gutierrez and Chris Burke. At the time of the trade, Valverde had led the MLB in saves, with 47 of 54, for the 2007 season. Valverde was awarded the 2007 National League Rolaids Relief Man of the Year.