Ismael Valdéz Alvarez (formerly Valdes; born August 21, 1973) is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. During his major league career, he was nicknamed "The Rocket" in his native Mexico. Career Los Angeles Dodgers Valdéz was 17 years old when he was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent on June 14, 1991. He made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Dodgers that year when he was 2-2 with a 2.32 ERA in 10 starts. The Dodgers loaned him to the Mexico City Tigres in the Mexican League for the next two seasons before he returned to the U.S. to play in the Texas League for the San Antonio Missions in 1993. He won 16 games and lost 7 in Mexico, with 115 strikeouts. He won the Championship in 1992, with the Tigers. In 1994 he was promoted to the AAA Albuquerque Dukes in the Pacific Coast League. Valdéz made his Major League debut on June 15, 1994 at the age of 20. He was the youngest player in the Majors at the time, pitching 2 shutout innings of relief against the Cincinnati Reds. His first win was recorded on July 5 against the Montreal Expos. He started for the first time in the Majors on July 18 against the New York Mets. However, he was taken out in the 2nd inning. In 21 games that season he was 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA. In 1995, his first full major league season, Valdez had a record of 13–11 with 150 strikeouts and a 3.05 ERA. He was also third in the National League with 6 complete games. In 1996 he finished 3rd in the NL in winning percentage (.682) and held opponents to 2 or fewer runs in 19 of 33 starts. In 1999 he was 9-14 with a 3.98 ERA in 32 starts as the Dodgers did not give him any run support. On August 27, 2000, Valdéz was pitching for the Dodgers and was ejected from a game after he was accused of retaliating and throwing pitches at the head of Cubs first baseman Mark Grace. The incident began in the top of the fifth inning when Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood yielded the second of two home runs to the Dodgers' Bruce Aven. Wood then threw a pitch close to the next batter, Alex Cora, on the first pitch after Aven's second home