Less than 24 hours after defeating the Colorado Rockies in the National League Wild Card Game, the Arizona Diamondbacks are being investigated by MLB for the possible use of a smart watch on the bench.
“Major League Baseball has launched an investigation to determine why and for what purpose Diamondbacks coach Ariel Prieto was wearing an electronic watch during their wild-card game Wednesday night against the Rockies,” Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported. “In a picture obtained by The Post that MLB has seen, Prieto is shown wearing what appears to be an electronic watch three weeks after Commissioner Rob Manfred sanctioned the Red Sox for having personnel wearing such a watch in games against the Yankees.”
While this is a road that baseball has been down recently with the Boston Red Sox, Manfred made it known that future violations would be treated much more harshly.
MLB slapped #Redsox wrist in elec watch sanction 3 weeks ago, but Manfred warned stiffer penalties if violated again #Diamondbacks
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) October 5, 2017
At the time, the commissioner stated (per Sherman) that the penalties could include “the possible loss of draft picks.”
It’s also important to remember the severity of the game. The Diamondbacks were in a one-game playoff. Any advantage gained there is far more immense than what we’d see in a regular season game, even one fairly late in the year.
At the very least, it’s a bad look. At the worst, it’s a potential sign of a team (or at least a member of its coaching staff) blatantly trying to gain an illegal advantage.
Prieto has denied any wrongdoing.
“My watch has been in airplane mode for about two days,” Prieto said via Nick Piecoro, AZ Central Sports. “If they want to take my Apple Watch, take my phone, they can do it. I wasn’t doing anything. I know it’s a rule, I know I missed that, but if they want to investigate, they can have it.”
This certainly isn’t anything baseball wants to be investigating, especially as it relates to a single-elimination playoff game. It’s obviously not where the league wants its focus during what’s normally the best time of the year on the MLB calendar.