is a
Baseball Pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was born on
July 24 ,
1979 in
San Pedro De Macorís ,
Dominican Republic . He stands 6'4" tall and weighs 255 lbs.
Made his MLB debut in 2003 to help out the injury plagued Diamondbacks, joining
Brandon Webb and Andrew Good after injuries to
Randy Johnson and
Curt Schilling left the team out of contention.
Although he had been the Diamondbacks' closer since replacing
Brian Bruney in
2005 , trouble on the mound in the month of June 2006 forced management to give the role to
Jorge Julio . Valverde regained the role after spending some time with the Diamondbacks' AAA affiliate, the
Tucson Sidewinders . He returned to the closer role in early September (as Julio became too inconsistent) and pitched well in his return. Valverde finished the 2006 season with a record of 2 wins, 3 losses, an ERA of 5.84 and 18 saves.
On June 23, 2007, Valverde passed
Matt Mantei as the Diamondbacks all-time saves leader, with his 75th, a perfect ninth against the
Baltimore Orioles .
Made the
2007 MLB All-Star Game as a closer for Arizona.
Valverde currently is the Diamondbacks' closer, leading the Major Leagues in saves with 43 (out of 50 chances) as of 09/07/07.
When José enters into the game, the song "
Big Poppa " by
Notorious B.I.G. is played.
His nickname is Papa Grande or Big Papa.
He has a wife and a newborn girl.
