St Louis Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa has been sentenced to nearly four years in jail after pleading guilty to hacking the computer systems of a rival team.

Chris Correa pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorized access to a computer from March 2013 until at least March 2014.

The charges were that Correa accessed the "Ground Control" database of the Houston Astros. The database held sensitive data regarding the player trades.

In addition, the database held scouting list of every eligible player for that year's draft as well as notes on bonuses, recent performances and injuries.

Correa accessed the database at least 60 times and used the information to draft players for St Louis. The total incident cost the Astros an estimated $1.7 million.

Correa will spend the next 46 months in jail and was ordered to pay restitution of $279,038. He had this to say at sentencing:

"I violated my values and it was wrong. I behaved shamefully," he reportedly told the court. "The whole episode represents the worst thing I've done in my life by far."

Source: InfoSecurity