This is irony at its finest…

Justin Prinstein, who calls himself ‘The Baseball Spy,’ spent decades earning recognition as one of baseball’s most experienced scouts. He worked in MLB and several international leagues, but his stint with the Los Angeles Angels lasted just six months before the club chose to dismiss him.

The Angels fired Prinstein after he allegedly filmed the Colorado Rockies coaches from the stands at Coors Field. 

The incident took place when the Angels were set to host the Rockies from June 1 to 3. It is pretty normal for scouts to be present in the stands during practice and live games, but filming the coaches doesn’t fall under the scouting assignments. As soon as the incident was reported and MLB was notified, the Angels’ front office stepped in.

According to The Athletic, they let go of Prinstein with immediate effect, and then-general manager Perry Minasian apologized to the Colorado front office, including Paul DePodesta, their president of baseball operations. 

The Athletic reported that Prinstein recorded on his own will via a phone, and the LA side is not likely to face any consequences from the league. However, ‘The Baseball Spy’ has refused to attend any interviews regarding the incident, and the reasons for his actions remain unknown. 

Prinstein is a former professional baseball player who started his journey in Division 1 college baseball at George Washington University. He then went on to play in Belgium, Australia, the Netherlands, and Israel as a professional pitcher. 

Additionally, he served as a scout in the Korean Baseball Organization before coming over to MLB. The 42-year-old spent significant time with the Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles, and Cincinnati Reds before joining the Angels last December. Unfortunately, the evaluator-cum-analyst lost his job in about six months. Why? That’s because his actions are related to MLB’s view of electronic sign-stealing and how the technology has changed in the last few years.

MLB doesn’t treat such incidents lightly

The reason the Angels moved so swiftly to dismiss Prinstein can be traced back to one of the biggest scandals in the major leagues. Back in 2017, the Astros were involved in a sign-stealing scheme that used a center-field camera to feed a live video monitor in the dugout. The way they used technology to decode the signs from opposition catchers tainted their World Series win. It also resulted in significant penalties and the suspension of managers and executives. 

Since then, MLB has taken an uncompromising stance on any abuse of technology that can be tied to sign-stealing. 

Observing the signs with the naked eye (mostly by a runner) and decoding them is still legal, but incorporating any electronic devices to record or decode signs is a strict no-no. 

Interestingly, the league-issued dugout iPads have seen certain changes as well. MLB recently found that several teams were expanding their usage of the same beyond the intended purpose. Some insiders reported that a third of the teams were using AI for “recommendations on substitutions, pitch-calling and other in-game decisions.”

That’s where MLB had to step in.

Last Thursday, according to The Athletic, the league “effectively outlawed the growing practice of using league-provided dugout iPads to access generative artificial intelligence, which some teams had increasingly leaned upon to help shape in-game strategy.”

This shows how strict the organization has become in avoiding any type of unfair practice in the league.