Former Astros pitcher says the team stole signs using an outfield camera and went 'above and beyond' to gain advantages in a new report

According to the report, the Astros used an outfield camera to relay catcher signs to a TV near the dugout. Players and coaches would reportedly bang a trash can to tip batters to upcoming pitches.
Astros sources gave conflicting accounts to The Athletic about whether the system ended before the 2017 playoffs.
According to the report, there is widespread "paranoia" in MLB about the Astros cheating.
According to The Athletic, the league is investigating the current accusations.
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In 2017, the Houston Astros used an outfield camera, TV in the locker room tunnel, and a system of noises to steal signs, former pitcher Mike Fiers told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich .

Three other Astros sources confirmed the sign-stealing system to The Athletic. According to The Athletic, MLB has heard of the specific sign-stealing system before, but had "not gathered sufficient evidence to prove the Astros committed wrongdoing." The league is expected to investigate the claims during an investigation into former assistant GM Brandon Taubman's firing .

"They were advanced and willing to go above and beyond to win," Fiers told Rosenthal and Drellich. Fiers pitched with the Astros from 2015 to 2017. Fiers has since played with the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A's and said he tipped off his teammates to the Astros' system.

The Athletic described the system as such:

"A feed from a camera in center field, fixed on the opposing catcher's signs, was hooked up to a television monitor that was placed on a wall steps from the team's home dugout at Minute Maid Park, in the tunnel that runs between the dugout and the clubhouse. Team employees and players would watch the screen during the game and try to decode signs sitting opposite the screen on massage tables in a wide hallway.

"When the onlookers believed they had decoded the signs, the expected pitch would be communicated via a loud noise specifically, banging on a trash can, which sat in the tunnel. Normally, the bangs would mean a breaking ball or off-speed pitch was coming."

MLB reporter Jeff Passan wrote in 2018 that "Two major league players said they have witnessed the Astros hitting a trash can in the dugout in recent years and believe it is a way to relay signals to hitters."

The Astros said in a statement to The Athletic that they were cooperating with MLB's investigation and would not comment further.

MLB pitcher Danny Farquhar, who is now with the Chicago White Sox affiliate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, told The Athletic that he believes he once heard the system in action in 2017.

"There was a banging from the dugout, almost like a bat hitting the bat rack every time a change-up signal got put down," Farquhar said. "After the third one, I stepped off. I was throwing some really good changeups and they were getting fouled off."

Farquhar told The Athletic that he and his catcher changed their signals after and the banging stopped.

Baseball writer Jimmy O'Brien seemed to find evidence of that specific moment.

According to the report, the system was discussed fairly openly among the Astros. In one instance, a player talked about returning to Minute Maid Park so the Astros could benefit from the system. Fiers told The Athletic that not all players were on-board with the system.

Two Astros sources told The Athletic that the system continued into the 2017 playoffs while another source said it did not. Passan reported in 2018 that some on the Los Angeles Dodgers believed the Astros were cheating during the 2017 World Series, which the Astros won in seven games. As The Athletic noted, the Astros won Game 7 on the road in Los Angeles, where they could not have used the same system.

According to The Athletic, there is a near league-wide "paranoia" about the Astros and their methods of gaining an advantage.A rival GM told The Athletic: "People respect what they've accomplished. They don't respect the culture they've created or some of the methods they choose to utilize to become what they've become."

Sign-stealing is prohibited in MLB. The league has taken further measures in recent years to try to crack down on sign-stealing, which some say runs rampant among teams. The Boston Red Sox were fined an undisclosed amount by MLB in 2017 for using an Apple Watch to steal signs. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred warned at the time that technology has made it increasingly hard to crack down on such activities. The league said teams found to be in violation of the rules would face steeper consequences than the Red Sox.

Read the entire report from The Athletic here >

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