A former pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays is suing the Houston Astros for unfair business practices related to the electronic sign stealing in 2017.
Mike Bolsinger, who pitched for the Blue Jays in 2017, is seeking unspecified damages and wants the Astros to forfeit roughly $31 million in bonuses from the '17 World Series title.
He wants the money to go to Los Angeles charities, the lawsuit states.
According to the lawsuit Bolsinger's attorneys filed Monday, Astros fan Tony Adams wrote a web application to document every instance of trash-can banging, which indicated an off-speed pitch was coming.
The study showed the most bangs happened Aug. 4, 2017, against the Blue Jays, and in that game the most bangs were when Bolsinger was on the mound.
There were bangs on 12 of his 29 pitches, according to Bolsinger's lawsuit.
Bolsinger gave up four runs on four hits and three walks in a third of an inning.
Here's what Bolsinger told USA TODAY Sports:
“There’s a message to be sent to youth out there. Especially athletes, more specifically baseball players. It was awesome to (grow up and) watch game played the right way. We’ve kind of drifted from that. It’s something we can really express to these kids: You don’t have to cheat to get to where you want to go.
“This kind of stuff doesn’t need to happen.”
Bolsinger bounced around MLB after making his major-league debut in 2014. He was demoted after that game against the Astros and has not pitched in the majors since.
Bolsinger played in Japan the last two seasons, going 18-8 with a 3.87 ERA.
The Astros' sign stealing costed them their manager A.J. Hinch and general Jeff Luhnow, who were both suspended for the 2020 season and subsequently fired by owner Jim Crane.
Hinch apologized for his role in the scheme in a recent interview on MLB Network.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal also published a report indicating it was the Astros' front office that discovered and initiated the sign stealing efforts.
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