WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — While they apologized for the electronic sign stealing that occurred on the way to their 2017 World Series title, five Astros players emphatically denied any use of wearable devices during the 2019 season.

“That’s a lie. Nobody wore buzzers. Nobody wore devices,” shortstop Carlos Correa said. “That story should be killed already. We know for sure, for a fact, 100 percent as a team.

“If I’m lying here, I lose credibility if something like that comes out, and that’s not what I want to do. … It’s just straight-up false. Nobody wore anything. 2018, nothing. 2019, nothing. 2017, nobody wore devices either. It’s just what you saw on the report (from Major League Baseball’s investigation).”

Speculation has swirled since the inquiry into Houston’s 2017 sign-stealing practices concluded in January. Fired manager A.J. Hinch did not deny the existence of buzzers in an interview last week, prompting more curiosity that his team wore devices that buzzed to correspond with a coming pitch.

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Last month, MLB said it investigated the use of wearable devices in the course of its probe into the Astros and “found no evidence to substantiate” the accusations.

On Wednesday night, Hinch released a statement to Tom Verducci — with whom he conducted the interview last week — to clarify his original answer. It read, in part, that Hinch was “not aware of any such device existing or being utilized with the Astros.”

At Texas Rangers spring training this week, former Astros catcher Robinson Chirinos also denied any use of buzzers. Video of a certain at-bat during the 2019 World Series appeared to show something sticking to Chirinos’ batting glove. MLB investigators questioned Chirinos about it and discovered it was an authentication sticker — something Chirinos said was corroborated by the authenticator during the investigation.

Other onlookers have centered on Jose Altuve’s peculiar post-pennant celebration, when he insisted teammates not rip off his jersey amid the hysteria at home plate following his Game 6-winning homer against the Yankees. Altuve celebrated on the field briefly before immediately going into the clubhouse and changing shirts.

“It’s not the first time I’ve done that,” Altuve said of his insistence to remain clothed. “If we go back and back, I’ve done that multiple times. That doesn’t mean I have a buzzer.

“MLB did their investigation, and they didn’t find anything. They found what they found in 2017 — a really good investigation, obviously. They did an investigation on the buzzer and didn’t find anything. When you say you don’t believe I had a buzzer, you don’t believe what MLB investigated.”

A Twitter account purporting to be Carlos Beltran’s niece claimed to have photographs of the buzzer, furthering speculation regarding Altuve. The account was later found to have no association with Beltran or his family.

“It was a fake Twitter account that started everything,” Altuve said. “It makes me upset that a fake Twitter account had that much credibility. Like I said, I feel bad for 2017, but I can say something that I didn’t do was the buzzer thing. No one on this team wore a buzzer.”

Astros owner Jim Crane said Thursday he spoke to his players regarding the rumors “and they’ve assured me that nothing like that ever happened.”

Players echoed the sentiment. Asked if he or any players wore buzzers, George Springer said, “Absolutely not.” Josh Reddick fielded the same question and said, “No, not to my knowledge.”

“Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” said pitcher Justin Verlander. “I’m in that locker room. I see these guys after the game, before the game, dressing and undressing. I never saw anything like that.”