The Houston Astros' front office laid the groundwork for the team's electronic sign-stealing ploys via a program dubbed "Codebreaker" that was introduced by an intern in the organization in September 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
According to the WSJ, the Excel-based application designed to decode opposing catchers' signs was used throughout the 2017 season and for part of 2018 by Astros baseball operations employees and video room staffers both at home and on the road.
Staffers would log the catcher's signs and subsequent pitches into a spreadsheet and "Codebreaker" would determine how the signs related to different pitches.