Angels Fire Scout After He Caught Filming Rockies During Game

The Los Angeles Angels have dismissed advance scout Justin Prinstein after he was caught filming the Colorado Rockies' coaching staff during a June series at Coors Field. Prinstein, who humorously dubbed himself 'The Baseball Spy' on social media, was seen recording the Rockies from the stands, raising eyebrows given the team's poor performance that season. The Rockies were over 20 games behind in the division, making the act of spying on them particularly questionable.

Prinstein was in the designated scout section when he pulled out his smartphone and began recording Rockies coaches in plain sight. This blatant disregard for discretion led to his swift downfall, as someone in the stadium alerted Major League Baseball (MLB), which then notified the Angels.

Since the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, MLB has enforced strict regulations against the use of personal electronics for recording coaches or decoding signals during games. Following the incident, former Angels general manager Perry Minasian, who was let go shortly after, acted quickly to terminate Prinstein's employment. He also had to apologize to Rockies management for the attempted breach of protocol.

MLB concluded that Prinstein acted independently, which meant the Angels would not face any fines or loss of draft picks. Ironically, despite his efforts to gain an advantage, the Rockies won two out of three games in the series, highlighting the futility of Prinstein's actions. This incident serves as a reminder of the consequences of violating league rules, especially when the target is a struggling team like the Rockies.