Trevor Bauer has been one of the most vocal critics of the Houston Astros and their sign-stealing scandal that rocked baseball this winter, but the Cincinnati Reds pitcher found a new way to troll them during his spring training outing on Monday.
The 29-year-old righthander decided to intentionally tip his pitches during an at-bat against Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Beaty by signaling with his glove — a method used during bullpen sessions — on which pitch was coming.
It was so obvious, even the announcers knew what Bauer was doing.
The Reds broadcast team asked outfielder Derek Dietrich about why Bauer was doing this during an in-game dugout interview.
“If you followed baseball this offseason there was a little thing called sign stealing,” Dietrich said. “Trevor is not too fond of it, so he figured he’s going to try something new this season and he’s going to start telling the batters what’s coming, that way there is no ifs, ands or buts about what’s going on. Just, here it comes try and hit it.”
The strategy seemed to work — at least in this case. Bauer was able to get Beaty out on a line drive to center field.
Bauer was not the only player this week having some fun at the Astros’ expense. Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo was mic’d up with the broadcast booth in a game against the Angels when he asked for someone to bang for him to let him know what pitch was coming as he stepped into the plate.
With the latest trolling from Bauer and Rizzo, it does not appear as if the aftermath of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal will be going away anytime soon. Several Astros players have already been hit by pitches (although the circumstances appear to have been more coincidental than intentional) while they have been relentlessly booed and heckled all spring.
It will be interesting to see what continues and what changes once the regular season begins later this month.
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