The Houston Astros have been accused of using numerous methods to communicate illegally stolen signs to their hitters in real time. One such method they are alleged to have used to communicate signs is whistles.
A new video by a man named Rafael Garcia claims to have used artificial intelligence to analyze the audio from Astros games to identify a pattern in whistles.
Garcia’s video says “we identify possible sounds that correspond to every pitch using AI analyzing hours of videos. With this information we are showing a common pattern follow by the sequence of the game and different at bats which matches important information.”
The video shows two different whistles — one Garcia believes signified fastballs and another to signify offspeed pitches. The whistle for a breaking ball sounded like the noise that precedes the “charge” chant. The alleged fastball whistle was a longer, flat whistle.
Here is the video:
Keep in mind, the Yankees accused the Astros of using whistles to communicate stolen signs in the ALCS this year. Astros manager AJ Hinch said the accusation made him laugh, but this video seems to indicate the Astros had a pattern that did involve whistles. MLB was said to have cleared the Astros in the 2019 ALCS whistling allegation.
The most prominent method the Astros are alleged to have used to communicate stolen signs is a bang made by hitting a trash can. Plenty of video evidence of this noise has been put together. Houston also allegedly had a system in place for communicating signs in road games.
MLB is investigating the Astros and will be including all evidence from 2017-2019 as part of their investigation. There are now four sources who have spoken about the Astros’ methods, including one of their ex-pitchers, who went on the record; there is an email from a team executive; and there seems to be a visual confirmation of their alleged setup.
It’s on MLB now to decide how to handle punishments.
