Former MLB Catcher Erik Kratz Alleges Rockies Used System to Steal Signs in 2018

The Houston Astros may not have been the only team using technology to steal signs in the last few years—just the most effective at it. 

According to former catcher Erik Kratz, the Colorado Rockies may have also devised a system to use monitors near the dugout to help relay which pitches were coming with the help of a massage gun and a metal bench. 

Here's how Kratz, who played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2018, explained the scheme on YES Network's Curtain Call podcast on Friday (h/t/ Brendan Kuty of NJ Advanced Media): 

"“And I can also tell you because I don’t care, I don’t really know anybody over there, the Colorado Rockies were doing the exact same thing in 2018, and we caught them, and we played them in the playoffs. Know how many runs they scored in a three-game playoff series in 2018? Not many people watched the NLDS. They scored two runs in the ninth inning of Game 2. They used to take a Theragun and bang it on their metal bench. And they were doing the exact same thing, from the TV. So, there you go. If you think no one else was doing it, you are wrong. The difference is, the Astros may have taken it a little too far. Maybe a little bit too far. Maybe continued to do it. Or maybe it’s just the fact that they won the World Series and everybody’s pissed about that.”"

Despite the alleged cheating, Colorado didn't find much success against the Brewers in that Division Series. Milwaukee swept the Rockies, 3-0, giving up just two runs and 12 total hits with two shutouts. 

That same postseason the eventual World Series champion Boston Red Sox were implicated in a sign-stealing scandal that would—temporarily—cost manager Alex Cora his job. He served a one-year suspension and was hired back the following year. 

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has taken steps to scale back the use of technology in the dugouts over the last two years, but it seems players like Kratz aren't ready to let go of the schemes various clubs devised to get an edge. 

It doesn't matter whether the alleged perpetrators wound up winning the World Series or not.