Major League Baseball recently proposed a plethora of rule changes for the 2019 season, which included the inclusion of a designated hitter in the National League, a three-batter minimum for pitchers and roster expansion, among other potential additions.
While none of those will ideas will come to fruition any time soon, MLB has continued to work on curbing another issue that has arisen in recent years — sign stealing.
The league was well aware of the epidemic last season, pledging to listen in on conversations from dugout phones to ensure that sign-stealing wouldn’t take place.
According to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, MLB will take another step further to prevent high-tech sign stealing by reportedly banning the use of non-broadcast outfield cameras for the 2019 season:
Major League Baseball is cracking down on high-tech sign stealing. It is banning all non-broadcast outfield cameras from foul pole to foul pole as well as tightening restrictions on in-house video, several sources familiar with the new rules told SI. Teams violating the protocols face penalties that include the loss of draft picks and international spending money.
To make sure teams comply with the rule, MLB is holding general managers and managers personally responsible for compliance. Before and after each season, every GM (or president of baseball operations) and manager must sign a document professing that his club is in compliance with the anti-sign stealing rules and that he knew of no “pre-meditated plan to steal signs,” a source said.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were at the center of controversy last season when they were accused by the Milwaukee Brewers of sign stealing in the National League Championship Series.
Former Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado, who reportedly reached agreement with the San Diego Padres on a 10-year contract, was later accused of stealing signs by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.
