Valdez will remain in a regimented bullpen role for the next two weeks at Triple-A Round Rock, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.
Valdez was sent down to Round Rock on Thursday after making the Astros' roster as a reliever. There weren't many opportunities in Houston for Valdez, a minor-league starter who is inexperienced as a reliever. Couple that Houston's starters are getting deep into games and Valdez was wasting away in the 'pen. "Most of that is on me, just not wanting to use him as a left-handed reliever until I'm a little more confident that he's going to bounce back," manager AJ Hinch said. "We've played so many close games, and he's been a long guy for us, because we've played so many long games, I've had to keep him out of games in case we had to get to extra innings. He wasn't pitching enough." For now, the Astros have moved Brad Peacock into the long-relief role in the bullpen and called up Reymin Guduan to serve as the lefty reliever capable of getting a couple of outs when needed. That gives the organization space to acclimate Valdez to a more traditional lefty-reliever role in the minors.