McHugh: Astro pitchers not “brave” enough to stop their cheaters
By Jeff Kallman
New Red Sox pitcher Collin McHugh is remorseful that his fellow 2017 Astros pitchers didn’t do more to stop the high-tech cheaters on their own team.
Even as we still await the final report on the Boston Red Sox‘s replay room reconnaissance ring of sign-stealers, a freshly-minted Red Sox pitcher would like you to know that he and his fellow 2017 Houston Astros could have been a little braver in standing athwart the Astro Intelligence Agency.
“You’ve got to be willing to stick up for what you believe in and what you believe is right and what you believe is wrong,” says Collin McHugh, who signed with the Red Sox as a free agent earlier this week, after six seasons in Houston with a 3.63 earned run average.
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“And I think a lot of the guys on that team, including myself, are looking back now and wishing we had been as brave in the moment as we thought we were beforehand.”
Or, cognisant of opposing pitchers getting an AIA gumshoe in the backside at the worst possible moments, the moments when even a single pitch stood between them hanging on to pitch another day’s worth of major league baseball and falling back to the minor leagues, perhaps to stay or even to say goodbye to what remained of their careers.
“To put myself in the shoes of the guys who pitched against us in 2017 and to know that our hitters made that job that much harder that year—it’s hard to swallow,” he says. “And I feel for them and I understand the anger and I understand when people are mad and pissed off. I get it. I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to be out there and feel like a team has your signs. It’s a lonely place.”