Major League Baseball will continue its bid to crack down on high-tech sign stealing.
A new set of rules will ban nonbroadcast outfield cameras between the foul poles, Sports Illustrated reported and The Post’s Ken Davidoff confirmed.
They also will restrict the ability of teams to monitor a broadcast, allowing only replay officials to watch in real time. The game will be played on an eight-second delay on clubhouse and bullpen monitors.
Teams in violation could lose draft picks and international spending money, the report said.
In implementing the rules, commissioner Rob Manfred will make good on a promise from last season after the Houston Astros were involved in two separate spying incidents. General managers are said to have endorsed the rules in November.
The Astros falsely accused the Yankees of sign stealing during a game in May and were accused of espionage during Game 1 of the ALCS against the Red Sox. Houston later said it had been investigating whether or not a Red Sox official was spying on them.
The Post’s Joel Sherman reported in October that MLB had started to implement similar rules during the playoffs, including a ban on team use of their own center-field feeds. MLB also had a league-hired official monitor team replay rooms to make sure they were not sharing real-time intelligence with their dugouts.
“Sign-stealing in and of itself is not a violation of our rules,” Manfred said at the time. “It’s been a part of our game since Lassie was a puppy. Where it becomes a problem is where there’s a use of technology that otherwise violates our rules to aid the sign-stealing process. I think technology is evolving at a rate that it is incumbent upon us to constantly review and update our rules. … We’ll probably have some changes for next year.”
League-appointed monitors will be assigned to team replay officials to prevent them from communicating with other personnel. Teams will also be required to detail the locations and purposes of their in-house cameras.
About six teams installed cameras in center field in order to steal signs, Sports Illustrated reported, citing one general manager.
The rules are expected to be finalized in time for Opening Day, according to the report.