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Framber Valdez has at least one staunch defender in his corner — his agent.
The Astros lefty was at the center of a bizarre moment during Tuesday night’s loss to the Yankees when a pitch of his hit catcher Cesar Salazar straight in the chest protector, with the backstop looking confused in the moments after and saying after the game that the two got crossed up.
However, some — including ex-MLB pitcher Dallas Braden — speculated that the cross-up was intentional after Valdez gave up a grand slam to Trent Grisham in the top of the fifth.
The cross-up came moments after Salazar indicated to the starter that he should step off — wanting him to throw a curveball and not a sinker. He did not step off and threw a sinker that was smacked for a back-breaking homer.
Two pitches later, with Anthony Volpe at the plate, Valdez hit Salazar with a pitch and then turned his back toward the plate as he walked back to the pitching rubber.
Ulises Cabrera, Valdez’s agent, told the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday that it’s “preposterous” to think Valdez plunked his own catcher intentionally.
“There’s no questioning what Framber is and what he represents to the team and his thought process on the team,” Cabrera said.“The idea that he’s intentionally trying to injure one of his teammates is preposterous. It’s a complete lack of respect for who he is as a person and who he is as a player. And his body of work demonstrates that. Anything to the contrary is just completely misguided and it’s not right.”
Valdez and Salazar both said it was a cross-up after the game, and the pitcher said he apologized to his catcher over the miscommunication.
“He called for the curveball, and I didn’t hear it because of the noise,” Valdez said. “When I realized that he didn’t want that, it was too late and I was already in my throwing motion. It was totally my fault in that case.”
“There wasn’t anything bad about it, just pressed the wrong button and I was expecting another pitch,” Salazar added.
The 31-year-old Valdez, a two-time American League All-Star who will hit free agency in a few months, has a 3.40 ERA with 166 strikeouts in 169 1/3 innings this season.
