Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo didn’t shy away from trolling the Houston Astros during an on-field segment of ‘Mic’d Up’ with ESPN Baseball on Monday.
Cubs stars Rizzo and Kris Bryant did the comical segment during both halves of the inning, both on defense and at the plate, and Rizzo made the jab at the Astros while he was talking to the broadcasters in the booth about what pitches he was looking for in the batter's box.
When asked what pitch he thought was coming next, Rizzo muttered 'I’m doing some math in my head what he’s going to throw.' When the announcer said ‘What do you got?’, Rizzo answered 'I have no idea, I wish I knew… Somebody bang for me.'
Rizzo of course was making allusions to the Astros infamous sign-stealing cheating scandal that blew wide open when former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers blew the whistle on the whole operation.
Fiers, who pitched for the team from 2015-2017, said the team had a TV monitor around the home dugout at Minute Maid Park that had a clear and magnified view of the opponents’ catcher that was shot from a discrete center field camera.
Astros staff would then watch the rigged up monitor in the tunnel while Houston players were batting, to see where the opposing catcher was setting up and what fingers he was throwing down. They would then relay to the Astros batter up at the plate which pitch was likely coming next by literally banging on trash cans, whistling, or hitting the ceiling of the dugout to signal if it was an off-speed pitch or a fastball.
Carlos Correa is the only Astros player who has officially come out and admitted that he benefited from using the trash can during the 2017 season.