Astros send down Framber Valdez, call up Cy Sneed

The Astros’ revolving door of pitchers continues to spin. Framber Valdez is being sent down to the Minors and Cy Sneed is getting the call-up.

The pitching struggles for Framber Valdez continued last night, and soon after the game, the rumors were already spreading of his demotion back to the Minors. It is now being reported by Jake Kaplan, the Astros beat writer for The Athletic, that in fact, he will go back down to AAA and Cy Sneed will be his replacement.

Valdez got rocked pretty hard last night by the Pittsburgh Pirates, his second straight rough outing. He lasted only three innings after surrendering six runs on eight hits. That followed his previous start when he worked just 3.1 innings and gave up five runs, including two homers.

Up until recently, he was used this season exclusively out of the bullpen but moved into the starting rotation earlier this month. Valdez’s first start on June 8 was an impressive outing going seven innings allowing just one run. But it progressively got worse with each start.

Valdez has appeared in 18 games this season for the Astros and has a 4.57 ERA in his 45.1 innings of work. In the four games the 23-year-old has started this year, he has a record of 1-2 with a 5.62 ERA.

Cy Sneed has been with the Astros organization since 2016. The 26-year-old was drafted in the third round of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. The right-handed pitcher has spent the last two seasons up at the AAA level.

He was just recently named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star Team. He also earned the League Most Valuable Player of the Week back in May as a result of back-to-back starts, pitching eight innings of scoreless ball in each game. His record this season at Round Rock is 5-6 in 14 appearances. He has an ERA of 4.48 and has eight starts under his belt.

This will be Sneed’s first call-up in his six-year career. There is no room for Sneed on the Astros’ 40-man roster, so there will have to be some type of movement. It is thought that Joe Smith could be going on the 60-day Injured List until he’s ready to return. Smith is expected to have a lengthy rehab assignment recovering from Achilles tendon surgery.