Astros pitchers Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia liven up MLB playoffs with hair extensions
The Houston Astros would welcome a long run through this year’s MLB playoffs — perhaps one as lengthy as the hair on two of their starting pitchers’ heads.
Left-hander Framber Valdez, who will start Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday, and right-hander Luis Garcia both got hair extensions during the season as a way of expressing their individuality.
“At first a lot of people were talking about it and joking about this topic,” Valdez told the Associated Press in Spanish through a translator. “But at the end of the day I feel comfortable with my hair, and I feel good about my hair, so I’ll keep having my hair like this.”
Garcia decided to accessorize his braids with beads.
“When I have the braids, everybody knows me more, because it’s not a normal look,” he said.
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The two pitchers may have supplanted first baseman Yuli Gurriel for the unofficial title of the Astros’ most notable hairstyle. His spiky top looks like the leaves of a pineapple, and he is known as “La Piña,” the Spanish word for the fruit.
Gurriel said he was originally skeptical of Valdez’s new dreadlocked look, which was quite a change from the closely cropped ‘do he had previously.
“At first, I thought he looked very strange with all of the hair that he came in with,” Gurriel said through a translator. “But now, I like his style and think it looks really good, and I really like when people change their style because I also like to change mine.”
For Garcia, the beads were his playoff addition to the extensions he got in June. After one pre-series workout, his teammates couldn’t figure out what was making a strange clicking sound until they noticed the beads coming out from under Garcia’s cap.
If Valdez and Garcia keep pitching the way they have during the regular season, the Astros could keep clicking as well.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Astros’ Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia show off playoff hair extensions
Source: Yahoo Sports
