Ken Rosenthal Addresses Strange Jose Altuve Interview After Walk-Off Against Aroldis Chapman

With the Houston Astros at the forefront of a rampant MLB cheating scandal, every opposing fan is currently locked in on figuring just how deep this goes.

And many people have circled back around to a strange Jose Altuve clip from 2019 as a potential second smoking gun.

Altuve hit a game-winning home run in the ALCS to send the Astros to the World Series against the Washington Nationals, but there was an odd moment mid-celebration where the second baseman was reluctant to let his teammates rip his shirt off, racing to the locker room before changing. The man responsible for asking him why he was so nervous about getting his clothing tattered, Ken Rosenthal, finally addressed the rumors and conceit behind the interview Friday morning.

All those asking if I “knew something” when I asked Altuve about refusing to allow teammates to rip off his jersey . . . hardly. In my rush to get onto the field, I did not even see Altuve cross home plate. Producer suggested question in my ear as I conducted the interview.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 17, 2020

According to Rosenthal, he didn't notice anything was amiss in the moment, either, and the questions were fed to him from the booth. Now, of course, the baseball rumor mill has gone insane, accusing Altuve of wearing some type of electronic device under his jersey which he wanted to protect at all costs. In this alternate reality, the device was thought to be sending signals to Altuve from Astros coaches to predict what pitch was coming next.

Altuve's explanation, at the time, was that he "got in trouble with [his] wife" last time his shirt was torn off after a game. But once the plot thickened and the Astros found themselves embroiled in investigations, these clips took on new meaning.

Here is a link to the interview, which came after Altuve’s ALCS-clinching, walk-off homer against the Yankees. MLB found no evidence of Astros using wearable devices, and no evidence of wrongdoing in 2019. https://t.co/jRV32KJvwB
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 17, 2020

Altuve's agent, Scott Boras, did recently release a statement, quoting Altuve as saying, "He wants it to be known that he has never, ever worn an electronic device in a major league game-- ever."

The Houston Astros cheating will continue to shed a poor light on the team's players, and even the most innocent-seeming clips are becoming so much more these days.