Jose Altuve denies that he wore an electronic buzzer during games as he has been accused of.
On Thursday, there days after MLB handed out punishments to the Houston Astros for cheating, accusations flew that some of the Astros’ best players wore electronic buzzers during games to receive stolen signals. Adding to the speculation were a few videos where Altuve seemed to be covering up his jersey so that a possible buzzer/wire wouldn’t be exposed.
MLB responded to the accusations and said they looked into whether the Astros used wearable devices and couldn’t find evidence to substantiate the claims.
from MLB with so much coming out publicly about Altuve HR to end ALCS and other incidents: "MLB explored wearable devices during the investigation but found no evidence to substantiate it.” That investigation, MLB said, includes 2019.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 16, 2020
Both Altuve and his agent Scott Boras issued statements to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman denying the use of an electronic buzzer.
Reach out to Scott Boras about his client Jose Altuve: “When this came up today, Jose Altuve immediately contacted me and this is his statement: ‘I have never worn an electronic device in my performance as a major league player.’” #Astros
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 16, 2020
Here were the explanations from Boras:
I asked Boras about Altuve not wanting to have his shirt ripped off as he came to home plate to end the ALCS and Boras said, "that is the shyness of Jose Altuve." Said his client didn't want the shirt ripped off.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 16, 2020
Boras did not want to get into 2017 and the #Astros, but said of Altuve, "He has been transparent and truthful with MLB and their investrigation.”
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 16, 2020
More Boras: "(Altuve) has never been involved in any information with the use of an electornic device that is triggered during the course of the game."
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 16, 2020
Altuve hit a walk-off 2-run home run off Aroldis Chapman to send the Astros to the 2019 World Series. His homer came on an 84-mph slider with a 2-1 count. Chapman threw his fastball 59 percent of the time last season and 31 percent of the time, according to Fangraphs. Did Altuve know a slider was coming and to look for something offspeed? The Astros are not receiving the benefit of any doubt on these questions now.
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