Red Sox Announcer Calls Out Astros Pitcher for 'All-Time Scumbag Move By a Teammate'

Andy Nesbitt | Sep 3, 2025

Framber Valdez apologized for this move after the game. / @MLB

Houston Astros pitcher Framber Valdez and his catcher, César Salazar, were involved in a wild moment in Tuesday night's loss to the Yankees that had one former MLB player saying he would have fought Valdez in the tunnel if he was his teammate

In case you missed it, Salazar tried to wave off Valdez before a pitch to Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham. Valdez ignored his catcher and delivered the pitch, which Grisham crushed for a grand slam home run.

Next up for the Yankees was Anthony Volpe and during that at-bat Valdez seemed to cross up his catcher and hit him in the chest with 93-MPH pitch.

Here's how that played out:

There’s speculation that Astros pitcher Framber Valdez purposely crossed up his catcher Cesar Salazar and hit him with this pitch after Salazar told him to step off before allowing a grand slam pic.twitter.com/ds3c9MzQV6

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 3, 2025

Valdez apologized for it after the game and said he didn't do it on purpose.

On Wednesday, former MLB player and current Red sox announcer Will Middlebrooks called out Valdez, calling it an "all-time scumbag move be a teammate" and saying he would have fought Valdez if he did that to him.

"The reaction to it [by Valdez] was everything I needed to know," Middlebrooks said to CBS Sports. "When I initially saw it I was thinking, O.K. it was a mistake. Then you watch the reaction by [Valdez]. No remorse. No my bad. No nothing. No reaction because your initial reaction any time you cross up a catcher is 'oh my god' because you could really hurt a guy. You squared him up in the sternum with 95 and you didn’t even react? I’m sorry, if he’s my teammate if I’m that catcher we’re going down the tunnel and you’re getting these hands either now or after the game, you can pick when you want them."

Here are Middlebrooks's full comments:

"This is an all-time scumbag move by a teammate."@middlebrooks chimes in on what took place between Astros pitcher Framber Valdez & his catcher Cesar Salazar. pic.twitter.com/2WGXkrKnUZ

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 3, 2025

It will be interesting to see if the Astros do anything to Valdez for that move of if they'll just move on since he apologized for it.

Either way, that is a tough look for their star pitcher.

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