In a bizarre tweet storm that covered everything from racism to performance-enhancing drugs, former Houston Astros catcher Evan Gattis became the latest member of the 2017 World Champions to confess to his role in the club’s infamous sign-stealing scheme.
“Personally, I was in favor of the idea at the time,” wrote 36-year-old Gattis, whose career ended in 2018.
In 2020, Major League Baseball revealed the results of an investigation that found the existence of a sign-stealing system in 2017 that allowed the Astros dugout to intercept and decipher hand signals between opposing players’ pitchers and catchers before that information was released. passed to Houston hitters in the batters box.
As first described in a 2019 article in The Athletic, the organization recorded the opponents’ hand signals with a video camera in the center field bleachers at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. Players in the dugout watched a live camera feed to decipher the signals and relay that information to hitters by hitting a garbage can. Typically, one or two pops would indicate a breaking ball for the Astros’ hitters, while no pops would indicate an approaching fastball.
On Monday, Gattis didn’t hold back and admitted he knew what pitch New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia threw him when he hit a crucial home run in Game 7 of the 2017 American League Championship Series.
Evan Gattis is the latest member of the 2017 Astros to confess to the team’s sign-stealing plan
According to Gattis, the biggest hit of his career was aided by the sign-stealing scheme
Gattis rounds out Houston on a homering off CC Sabathia in the 2017 ALCS
“So you knew what CC’s pitch would be in Game 7?” one fan asked.
“Yes,” Gattis replied.
And that’s not all Gattis admitted. He also confessed to using PEDs.
“I was lucky enough to see you play [left field] 2 out of 11 times you did, in 2015,” one fan wrote to the lumbering former catcher.
“I can guarantee I was terrified and probably on a performance-enhancing drug both times,” Gattis replied.
Gattis has never been caught using PEDs during his career.
However, he and his Astros teammates were caught for their sign-stealing scheme, resulting in suspensions for former Houston bench coach Alex Cora, who was leading the Red Sox at the time, as well as general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch.
Several Astros players have apologized for their role in the scheme, such as third baseman Alex Bregman, but publicly the team remains tainted by the scandal even after winning the 2022 World Series, ostensibly without the benefit of stealing of plates.
There were allegations that the Astros, like second baseman Jose Altuve, went so far as to use remote buzzers in their jerseys that allowed the dugout to communicate incoming pitch calls to hitters without the use of a trash can.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Gattis said when asked about the buzzers. ‘It used to be possible and I’ve researched it. If someone used them, they were smart enough not to tell me.’
He later added, “I don’t know if the buzzers are right. If there was, Altuve wouldn’t want it anyway. He’s a reactionary hitter.”
Gattis was never caught using PEDs during his career, but admitted to doing so on Twitter
Alex Bregman (back left) and Jose Altuve (back right) both apologized for their roles in 2020
Gattis even admitted that Yu Darvish was essentially still unreachable, even stealing plates
Perhaps most damningly, Gattis admitted knowing what pitches Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw threw in the 2017 World Series.
Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, put up six points in a Game 5 loss at Houston that year. In 11 innings at Dodger Stadium, where sign-stealing was not used by the Astros, Kershaw gave up only one earned run while striking out 16 Houston batters.
“I remember knowing what Kershaw was in for,” Gattis tweeted. “As a team, we swung and missed a handful of times against him alone.”
One of Gattis’ more comedic admissions was that he knew what former Rangers and Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish threw in 2017 and still struggled to hit the five-time All-Star.
“The craziest thing about the cheating year is coming face to face with a guy like yu darvish and being left out knowing what’s coming,” he wrote.
From there, things took a bizarre turn as Gattis seemed to inject race into the conversation.
“Racism in the form of name-calling,” he wrote. ‘Is something. Bigger than that is something else.’
He also made sexual remarks to some Twitter users, one of whom he complimented on her “amazing ass.”
Finally, Gattis signed off on the east coast around 11:40 PM.
“Aaaaaaan and it turns out I say stupid things from time to time,” he wrote. ‘Night.’
It remains unclear what prompted Gattis’ confessions on Monday and the club has yet to respond to the renewed controversy.
Finally, Gattis signed off on the east coast around 11:40 PM