Well, it seems as if Major League Baseball were not completely in the dark about what was going on with the Houston Astros.
During the 2019 season, MLB reportedly instructed video monitors working in Minute Maid Park to listen for banging sounds coming from the Astros’ dugout. As we know now from former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers and other ex employees, the team would bang on a trash can to signal hitters when an off-speed pitch would be coming after decoding the catchers signals.
A video monitor who worked in another American League ballpark told the Chronicle they were not “implicitly told” to listen for any sounds from either dugout.
Fiers told The Athletic the Astros set up a camera in center field at Minute Maid Park that was connected to a TV in the dugout for players or employees to focus on the opposing catcher.
Multiple videos have since surfaced on Twitter that reportedly show something banging in the background just before several pitches.
The team has said it is cooperating with MLB’s investigation.
“Beginning in the 2017 season, numerous clubs expressed general concerns that other clubs were stealing their signs,” MLB said last week. “As a result of those concerns, and after receiving extensive input from the general managers, we issued a revised policy on sign stealing prior to the 2019 season. We also put in place detailed protocols and procedures to provide comfort to clubs that other clubs were not using video during the game to decode and steal signs.”
