KANSAS CITY, MO – Detroit Tigers left-hander Framber Valdez is currently serving a five-game suspension from Major League Baseball for intentionally throwing at Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story in his last start.
He also continues to prepare for his next start.
The 32-year-old completed his scheduled bullpen session Saturday, May 9, before the second of three games against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
“He’s able to work out with us, even though he can’t stay for games and be in the clubhouse during the game,” manager A.J. Hinch said before Saturday’s game.
Before the suspension, Valdez was supposed to start Sunday’s series finale against the Royals – only for the five-game suspension to wipe out the original plan.
Without Valdez, the Tigers will rely on a traditional bullpen-only game.
Valdez – whom the Tigers signed in early February to a contract that could be worth $115 million over three seasons – is eligible to return from the suspension for Wednesday’s game, which is the second of three games against the New York Mets at Citi Field.
Expect Valdez to start Wednesday’s game.
“His normal workload is going,” Hinch said.
The Tigers haven’t revealed their probable pitchers for the upcoming series against the Mets, but it’s shaping up to be right-hander Jack Flaherty on Tuesday, Valdez on Wednesday and right-hander Keider Montero on Thursday.
Valdez owns a 4.57 ERA with 15 walks and 35 strikeouts across 43⅓ innings in eight starts.
“We’re starting to develop it,” Hinch said. “We have two games here that we’re entirely focused on, and we’ve just got to see how we come out of this series. We’re going to need to use a lot of pitching over the next couple of days.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Framber Valdez suspension: Detroit Tigers return already coming soon
