Houston Asterisks

By Ruben Ayala III

On November 12th 2019, the baseball world was turned on its head when it was reported by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich through The Athletic that the Astros used technology to steal signs from opposing teams during their World Series winning 2017 season. In the two months since that first report the MLB has suspended Houston’s manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow followed by them getting fired by Houston along with other punishments. Alex Cora was also fired by the Red Sox for playing a definite role in 2017 and in 2018 with the Red Sox, and on January 16th Carlos Beltran “stepped down” as manager of the New York Mets as he was the only active player at that time to be mentioned by Manfred in his final report. So much damage came from a team that the baseball world once had respect for which also included ruined reputations of opponents who simply could not perform to their level whenever they were at Minute Maid Park. The Astros have done something that is beyond any damage that the steroid era might have caused or when it comes to other blackballed figures of the game like Pete Rose or “Shoeless” Joe Jackson from the 1919 Chicago White Sox.

The Astros method of cheating was not something that just came about all the sudden, multiple teams and players specifically people from the Yankees and Dodgers have been speculating that there was something wrong with Houston for awhile now. Ultimately, these probably would have stayed as rumors if it wasn’t for former 2017 Astros pitcher Mike Fiers confirming that the team was indeed taking advantage of the advanced technology. With that bid of confirmation the baseball world rejoiced in knowing that their worries were indeed okay to have. Fiers wasn’t the only player to come forward in the article, former Chicago White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar also confirmed he consistenly heard banging in the Astro’s dugout during a game on September 22, 2017. This is what caused the explosion of social media use and findings of fishy at bats.

So, how did they do it? It’s been confirmed that the Astros personally installed a center field camera that gave a clear view of the catcher and that was set up to a tv monitor just beyond the Astros dugout. The second part of this system is what has been resulting in the multitude of jokes on the internet, yes the Astros did bang on a trash can to audibly signal to the batter what pitch was coming. The system went like this, two bangs for a changeup, one bang for an off speed pitch and no bang for a fastball. The Astros were also confirmed to use this system during the 2017 playoffs, but in a different variation in which is still unconfirmed, but a look at certain players road and home splits tells you something was definitely going on. In the 2017 postseason Jose Altuve hit .472 with 6 home runs and 12 RBIs while having a .513 on base percentage and a slugging percentage over 1.000, on the road it was a completely different story he only hit .143 with one home run and two RBIs with a .268 on base percentage and a slugging percentage of only .229. Carlos Correa hit .371 with 3 home runs and 10 RBIs with a .421 on base percentage with a slugging percentage of .743, on the road he hit .211 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs, a .231 on base percentage, and a .395 slugging percentage. The most drastic split from the 2017 postseason is that of Brian Mccann, at home he hit .300 with a home run and 7 RBIs, a .382 on base percentage, and a .467 slugging percentage at home and on the road he hit .037 with only one hit and no RBIs or home runs, with a .131 on base percentage, and a .037 slugging percentage.

Jose Altuve’s 2017 MVP season has also come into question as well and while Altuve is an extremely talented hitter and player anyway, but 2017 still jumps out at you. In 2017, Altuve matched his previous career high for home runs with 24, hit for a .346 batting average his highest average to date, and also put up his highest on base percentage(.410)and his highest slugging percentage(.547). With all this stuff coming out it’s highly possible that Altuve was one of those that took advantage of the system and unfortunately for him his MVP will now be tainted in the eyes of the fans. It’s a shame too, because Altuve is looked at as an inspiration to many and with this I think he let a lot of people down even if he’s only guilty by association.

Giving a hitter any kind of advantage will ultimately up their chances of being able to get a hit or hit a home run. The Astros had an insurmountable advantage on the competition in 81 games out of the whole year, that’s pretty much half the season where they had a huge leg up on the competition. The ultimate results of each individual at bat is not the problem as some fans may argue that, the problem is even with the at bats where they didn’t get a hit they still probably had tough at bats as they were 1st in swing percentage and 1st in least strikeouts. This is all the more worse because they were able to win a title using this unfair advantage for half the regular season and into the playoffs at home. What the Astros have done has gone beyond any scandal before it and they’ll surely pay for it with their reputations for years to come.

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