Ismael Valdéz Alvarez (formerly Valdés; born August 21, 1973) is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher.

Valdéz was 17 years old when he was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent on June 14, 1991.

He was the youngest player in the Majors at the time, pitching 2 shutout innings of relief against the Cincinnati Reds.

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.

[2] In September, Frank Robinson, major league baseball's head of on-field discipline, suspended Valdéz for six games and fined him $1,000 for the incident.

On December 12, 1999, the Dodgers traded him to the Chicago Cubs (along with Eric Young) for Terry Adams and two minor leaguers.

He was 9–6 with a 5.53 ERA in 23 appearances (20 starts) for the Padres and was traded to the Florida Marlins on July 31, 2004, in exchange for Travis Chick.

After many years away from the sport, Valdéz returned to organized baseball in 2013 as a member of the Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League.