Wilber Dotel, Esmerlyn Valdez Named Eastern League Pitcher, Player of the Week
Published on September 1, 2025 under Eastern League (EL)
Altoona Curve News Release
CURVE, PA - Pitcher Wilber Dotel was named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week and Esmerlyn Valdez was named the Eastern League Player of the Week on Monday after their brilliant performances during last week's series at Harrisburg. The awards mark the second and third weekly award winners this season for Altoona after Hunter Barco was named Pitcher of the Week on April 27.
Dotel and Valdez are the first teammates since 2012 to sweep the Eastern League's weekly honors since Phil Irwin and Adalberto Santos earned the honors on July 30 that season. It is the fourth time in franchise history that Curve players earned Player and Pitcher of the Week in the same week.
Dotel tossed 10.2 scoreless innings across two starts last week, allowing just two hits and four walks, with nine strikeouts. The 22-year-old from Barahona in the Dominican Republic has struck out 124 batters this season, tied for fifth-most in a single season in franchise history with Tom Gorzelanny. In the month of August, he's gone 3-2 with a 2.60 ERA (10 ER / 34.2 IP) with 29 strikeouts and held opponents to a 0.98 WHIP and .202 batting average against.
Entering play on Tuesday, Dotel ranks third in the league in strikeouts (124), is tied for first in games started (25), fourth in innings pitched (118.2), and fifth in batting average against (.237) and WHIP (1.21).
Valdez, who leads Pirates minor leaguers with 26 total homers this year, batted .444 (12-for-27) with one double, four home runs and nine RBI last week. Valdez recorded his third multi-homer game of the season on August 29 and homered in three straight games for the first time in his career (8/28-30). Valdez and Konnor Griffin each hit two homers on Friday at Harrisburg, marking the seventh time in franchise history that the club had two different players hit two homers in the same game.
Since joining Altoona, Valdez has reached base safely 34-of-41 games and batted .311 with six home runs and 19 RBI in 24 games during the month of August.
Altoona returns to action on Tuesday to begin a six-game series with the Richmond Flying Squirrels at 6:00 p.m. LHP Blake Townsend is slated to start for the Curve with LHP Joe Whitman slated to start for the Flying Squirrels.
The Curve hold a 2.5 game lead in the Southwest Division with 12 games remaining in the Second Half, in search of their first playoff appearance since 2018.
For tickets and more information on the 2025 Altoona Curve, presented by Stuckey Automotive, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office. Additionally, the Stockyard Team Store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.
Eastern League Stories from September 1, 2025
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