J.T. Watkins is the Red Sox cheater you’ve never heard of

Was J.T. Watkins just another scapegoat? At the conclusion of MLB’s investigation into the Red Sox sign-stealing scandal, nearly all responsibility for the endeavor was pinned on the 30-year-old replay operator, Watkins, who has been suspended for the entire 2020 season and banned from working in the replay room in 2021. Watkins, the only individual …

Was J.T. Watkins just another scapegoat?

At the conclusion of MLB’s investigation into the Red Sox sign-stealing scandal, nearly all responsibility for the endeavor was pinned on the 30-year-old replay operator, Watkins, who has been suspended for the entire 2020 season and banned from working in the replay room in 2021.

Watkins, the only individual punished, was named by multiple players on the 2018 title-winning team, who “suspected or had indications that Watkins may have revised the sign sequence information that he had provided to players prior to the game through his review of the game feed in the replay room,” according to commissioner Rob Manfred’s report.

Watkins denied the accusations.

Watkins, an Alabama native whose father, Danny, is an area scout with the Red Sox, was drafted by Boston as a catcher out of West Point. After being taken in the 10th round in 2012, Watkins missed two seasons, while serving in the Army. Watkins returned to the field in 2015, but he would permanently hang up his cleats just over a year later, having batted .184 in 88 career games with various Single-A teams.

“It was about halfway through 2016 that I realized that this is maybe not the most realistic goal,” Watkins told the Boston Globe last year. “For me, at that point, I was 26, I’m playing with guys who are significantly younger than me, you look around, you’re also probably one of the few married guys in the room, you’re different. You’re at a different life stage.”

Watkins then began working as an advance scouting assistant with the Red Sox in 2017.

“I feel like I worked hard as a player and I think they saw that,” said Watkins. “I do the same thing here now — work hard, do my job, and help out where I can. But certainly, going from Greenville and Salem to here is a different jump, a steep learning curve. I learned so much in my first year from [the Red Sox coaches] about what it takes to prepare for each series. I’ve been lucky to have people helping me out along the way.”

Watkins received little help from witnesses who may have benefitted from his efforts, but received no blame. Watkins’ position required him to decode signs before and after games, but MLB prohibits the replay operator from doing it during a game and relaying that information to players. During games, Watkins worked in a room near the Red Sox dugout at Fenway Park, and also traveled with the team.

Watkins admitted to passing along information during games, but claims it was only based on findings from before the first pitch.

“One player, who was interviewed twice, said that he had no doubt that Watkins utilized the replay room to decode signs on occasion, and said that he watched Watkins attempt to decode the sign sequence by writing sign information on computer paper while he watched the replay station in the replay room and then circling the correct sign in the sequence after the pitch was thrown,” Manfred said. “Another player said that he believed that 90% of Watkins’s sign sequence information was obtained from his advance work, but that 10% of the time Watkins ‘obviously’ updated that information from in-game video feeds.”

According to Manfred, Watkins’ punishment was partially based on his being a “key participant” in the 2017 “Apple Watch incident,” when the Red Sox also were found to be relaying signs in real time.