An unhappy Framber Valdez appeared to pull a petty move on his own catcher during Tuesday’s game.
The Houston Astros left-hander Valdez drew the start on Tuesday against the New York Yankees at Daikin Park in Houston, Tex. During the top of the fifth inning, Valdez loaded the bases with Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham next up to bat.
On a 1-0 count to Grisham, it appeared that Astros catcher Cesar Salazar, who was behind the plate, motioned for Valdez to step off. Valdez ignored him though and proceeded with his throwing motion … before immediately giving up a grand slam to Grisham.
— Foul Territory (@bsbls885) September 3, 2025
The next batter up for the Yankees was Anthony Volpe. On a 1-0 pitch, Salazar got completely crossed up as Valdez fired a 93-mph fastball down the middle. Salazar was not expecting the pitch at all, and the ball bounced off his glove down the first base line.
That led to speculation that Valdez crossed up Salazar intentionally out of frustration. Valdez didn’t even bother to check on Salazar after the pitch, and with PitchCom technology, it is extremely unlikely for a catcher to get crossed up by accident.
I don’t want to be that guy but this looked somewhat intentional pic.twitter.com/3CXe2L8cBD
— SleeperAstros (@SleeperAstros) September 3, 2025
What we do know for certain is that Salazar is a fairly seldom-used catcher. He has been with the Astros since 2023 but has spent the majority of his time with the organization in the minors. Tuesday’s game, which the Yankees went on to win 7-1, marked Salazar’s 36th career appearance for Houston and just his 11th of 2025.
Meanwhile, Valdez, a two-time All-Star and World Series champion with the Astros, owns a respectable 12-8 record with a 3.40 ERA this season. But Valdez is also known as an emotional player who has gotten into spats before, and on Tuesday, he appeared to get into a spat with his own catcher.
