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Ex-Astros Player Says Carlos Beltran 'Steamrolled' Opposition to Sign-Stealing

Astros cheating scandal: Four takeaways from sign-stealing data logged by Houston fan

Some players had more signs than others
For whatever reason some Astros players received more signs via the banging scheme than others. Maybe the players who did not receive many signs felt it didn't help (or actively hurt) them at the plate, or believed it was unfair and chose not to participate. Either way, Adams' data shows some players received more signs than others.

Here are the three 2017 Astros regulars with the most bangs recorded while at the plate:

Marwin Gonzalez: 147 bangs (18.9 percent of all pitches recorded)
George Springer: 139 bangs (14.9 percent)
Carlos Beltran: 138 bangs (18.1 percent)
Alex Bregman (133 bangs) and Yuli Gurriel (120 bangs) were the only other players with triple-digit bangs recorded, and their rates were higher than Springer's (16.6 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively). When you see the banging numbers, how different does Gonzalez's 2017 season look? Consider:



PA AVG/OBP/SLG HR BB% K%
Gonzalez from 2015-16

888 .264/.303/.418 25 4.3% 21.6%

Gonzalez in 2017

515 .303/.377/.530 23 9.5% 19.1%

Gonzalez from 2018-19

1,015 .255/.323/.411 31 8.3% 22.1%

Correlation does not equal causation, and Gonzalez was 28 in 2017, an age when many players have career years. Given what we know about the banging scheme now, it's awfully hard to give him or any Astros player the benefit of the doubt though. We know they were doing something illegal and unfair. The commissioner says so and the data says so.

Now here are the three 2017 Astros regulars with the fewest bangs recorded while at the plate:

Jose Altuve: 24 bangs (2.8 percent of all pitches recorded)
Josh Reddick: 28 bangs (3.9 percent)
Brian McCann: 45 bangs (8.9 percent)

Carlos Beltran disregarded pleas from Astros teammates to stop stealing signs, report says