Astros players or team staffers watching the live camera feed behind the dugout used various audio cues, such as banging on a trash can, to signal to the batter what type of pitch was coming next. Mike Fiers, a pitcher who played for the Astros in 2017, told The Athletic that the organization used a video camera in the center field seats to film the opposing catcher's signals to the pitcher regarding the next pitch. Mike Fiers, pictured here with the Houston Astros in 2016, brought the scandal to light in an interview with reporters of The Athletic.įor years, some individuals on other teams had suspected the Astros of stealing signs, but there was no public reporting on the subject until November 2019, when reporters Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich at The Athletic published an article detailing the team's activities. Thankfully for the sake of my sanity, umpire James Hoye caught this sly, pathetic technique to reach base.Illegal sign stealing in baseball by the Houston Astros in 20 By leaning into Robertson’s pitch, he was simply moving the lineup along to the next batter. 100 for the postseason, Diaz couldn’t have felt confident in his ability to drive home the tying and winning runs, which were already on base at that moment. Aledmys Diaz torched on Twitter for leaning into pitchĪledmys Diaz was forced to earn his spot on base the hard way, and he failed to do so. Per the rules, a batter must make an attempt to avoid being hit by a pitch in order to receive first base.”ĭiaz, if anything, tried to lean into said pitch rather than move away from it. But hit-by-pitches can also result in injury because most pitches are thrown 80 mph or faster.

Certain hitters - specifically those who stand very close to the plate - have a knack for earning HBPs, which can obviously be helpful because the goal of any hitter is to reach base. “A hit-by-pitch does not count as a hit, but it does count as a time on base for on-base percentage purposes. Per the MLB rulebook, the batter has to make an attempt to get out of the way of said pitch. Still facing a 3-0 disadvantage, Robertson got Diaz to swing out of his shoes on the next pitch, and then ground out for the game’s final play. Aledmys Díaz was hit by a pitch, but the umpire ruled that he leaned into it, and it was ruled a ball instead of a HBP.ĭíaz ended up making the final out.

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