I thought about setting up a thread called "those cheating bastards" in honor of New England's favorite team - no, mean their other favorite team - but I figure the Apple Watch sign stealing is more of a one and done story not worthy of a thread.
Recall that the theory is that the Red Sox video guys picked up the Yankees signs, including their signal as which sign would be the real pitch call (e.g., the first sign the catcher puts down, the 3d, etc...), that an assistant trainer in the clubhouse would get the signal from the video guys, he would tell players in the clubhouse the hot sign, a player would relay that to the runner on second by some sort of coded chatter, and the player on second would then know the real pitch call and relay that to the hitter.
Alex Speier made an interesting attempt to figure out if you could show the Red Sox were helped by their sign stealing by looking at their numbers with runners on second (the scenario when signs can be stolen and relayed to a hitter) v. when runners are not. At least at first glance, it looks like it may have helped some with laying off pitches for BBs.
The Red Sox are hitting .259 with a .325 on-base percentage and .406 slugging mark when no runner is on second. With a runner on second, they are hitting .259 with a .360 OBP and .408 slugging mark. The team’s strikeout rate goes down slightly, from 19.3 to 18.9 percent, with a runner on second, with the walk rate jumping from 8.0 to 10.1 percent.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2017/09/12/almost-impossible-tell-from-stats-red-sox-benefitted-from-sign-stealing-but-tried/oNFCt2PeA5Yq8cvSWC6TdK/story.html?et_rid=1807634745&s_campaign=108stitches:newsletterHe goes through other teams that have spikes in hitting with runners on 2d. The Os seem to do the best.
The Orioles stand out as the team that has improved the most in such situations, with the biggest jump in batting average, OBP, and slugging percentage, the second-largest decline in strikeout rate, and the fifth-largest increase in walk rate in the AL.
that said, he points out there are other statistical anomalies that suggest there's no clear pattern and a lot of this could be hitter approach.
It's a fun read.
