Did Framber Valdez have a “foreign substance” during Game 2 of the 2022 World Series?
In Game 2 of the 2022 World Series, Houston Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez was dominant. But, did he do it with a little “extra” help?
About mid-way through the 1st inning, I started to notice that Valdez was rubbing the palm on his glove-hand frequently. You can follow my Tweets below for 5 instances that I caught.
It was so blatant, that I can’t believe the Philadelphia Phillies didn’t call for an official check.
Here are a couple of things that made the whole situation very suspicious.
- Curve Ball Spin Rate was some of the best…in the history of MLB.
Even MLB.com put together highlights that showed Valdez’s spin rate over 3,000 rpms…which is some of the highest in the history of Major League Baseball.
2. Valdez’s changed his glove and cleats in the second inning.
Did he get too much stuff on his first glove? Just weird
3. The palm rubbing was just out of control
It literally didn’t stop the whole game, and it wasn’t your typical “rubbing-up” the ball. This was specific. Throwing-hand thumb to glove-hand palm.
4. The post-inning wipe off
I’m just not even sure how this is allowed. After the 6th inning, Valdez casually strolls to the home-plate umpire while wiping his glove-side palm against his jersey and back of pants. The camera cuts, so I’m not even sure if a “substance” check took place but it seemed that Valdez was anticipating it. I’ll throw in the final check when Valdez exited the game in the 7th inning. The umpire slapped his pitching palm…that was it.
People have been coming at me saying that those checks would be good enough to catch a substance.
Not. A. Chance.
If you’re pitching with “substance” you have a little bit hidden on your body, and you’re just getting a small amount on your finger tips/thumb to influence the spin. That stuff is never hitting your palm. Baseball are changed out so frequently that it would be really challenging to spot it on a ball after 1–2 pitches. So this check, would not catch anything. Maybe MLB wants it that way.
Look. This is baseball. I assume everyone is cheating. I’m just pretty disappointed that the Philadelphia Phillies would just allow this to happen in such an important game. For the Astros, well…
Cheaters…gonna cheat.
