Suspicious of opponents engaging in sign-stealing, the Pittsburgh Pirates at times would change their catcher-to-pitcher signs every inning during road games last season, catcher Jacob Stallings said.
“I don’t want to say we were aware, (but) we were paranoid that things were going on when we were on the road,” Stallings said Saturday when asked his take on the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. “It’s kind of funny, I go back and watch game film a lot, and opposing teams’ broadcasters make fun of us a lot for using multiple signs with no one on base.
“So now, everybody kind of knows why.”
An investigation led by the office of commissioner Rob Manfred concluded the Astros ran a video-driven sign-stealing scheme in recent years, and Manfred punished the organization via loss of draft picks, a fine and the suspensions of manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow (who subsequently were fired).
The Houston Astros fired Manager A.J. Hinch and General Manager Jeff Luhnow after Major League Baseball suspended them each for a year for a cheating scandal that involved stealing pitch signs during their World Series-winning 2017 season https://t.co/QzO0nNKUFt pic.twitter.com/wT9MTnqhA5
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 13, 2020
Stallings said the Pirates didn’t suspect the Astros were up to anything nefarious. Their suspicions were throughout MLB.
“I’ll tell you this: There were multiple times last year that I forgot what sign sequence was on because we were switching it every inning,” said Stallings, who ended last season as the Pirates’ No. 1 catcher and holds that designation at present time with spring training less than four weeks away. “And with no mound visits that became a problem because at times I might have been guessing what pitches they were throwing.
“But we were paranoid about it, and I would anticipate that continuing to be the case, yeah.”
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