If the definition of cheating in baseball is violating the rules, MLB’s scorecard on the Yankees this week reads like this:
Aaron Judge: not cheating.
Domingo German: cheating.
In the aftermath of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, MLB is continually sharpening its rules and hiring people to defend against the baseball tradition of players and teams trying to get away with as much of the dark arts as they can. For instance, after Mets pitcher Max Scherzer was busted for violating the rule against sticky substances—and claimed when he was checked before an inning that the substance was only “rosin and sweat”—MLB sent a memo to all clubs on April 26 to close the “dugout rosin” loophole.
A portion of that memo, which was obtained by Sports Illustrated, states, “The official rosin bag behind the pitcher’s plate may be used by a pitcher during an inning. However, there is no reason for a pitcher to apply rosin when he is not on the field or in the bullpen. Umpires may inspect pitchers to check their compliance with these rules before, during or after an inning. We have instructed umpires to vary the time and frequency of pitcher inspections to create additional deterrence.”
That brings us to German and his sticky fingers. Umpire James Hoye ejected German on Tuesday upon a pre-inning inspection. German insisted he had used only rosin. Hoye strongly disputed that claim, saying what he found was “shiny and extremely sticky.” A pine-tar-like substance was evident on the right hip of German’s uniform pants. German had been warned in a game earlier this season about a sticky substance on his fingers, which he claimed was rosin he used in the dugout between innings.
As for Judge, MLB officials consider two possibilities of what really happened Monday when while in the batter’s box he glanced toward the right side of the field before hitting a home run off Toronto reliever Jay Jackson.
- Judge’s explanation (delivered with a grin) that he was checking on teammates chirping at umpire Clint Vondrak was an honest one.
- Judge was getting tipped about pitch information from first base coach Travis Chapman, who was standing nearer to fair territory than the coaching box.
Neither possibility is against the rules. “There is no indication that anything occurred that violated our rules,” said one MLB official.
(If No. 2 is more likely than No. 1, that would explain Judge grinning through his answer about what happened with the sideways glance. No team is ever going to admit publicly that it decoded signs—not because it’s illegal but because it forfeits a competitive advantage. Judge had to come up with something.)
What if Judge was getting pitch information from the dugout? That would be against the rules. But post-Astros scandal, baseball has hired gameday compliance monitors, who are placed in each dugout for every game. It is their responsibility to monitor that all rules are being followed, especially when it comes to the use of technology and electronic equipment. If the Yankees had been sending signals of any kind to Judge from the bench, the GCM would have filed a report that the club was in violation of sign-stealing rules. No such report was filed, according to a league source.
Watch the Yankees with fuboTV. Start your free trial today.
If the Yankees decoded Jackson’s pitches by way of Chapman’s seeing into the pitcher’s glove, that’s good, old-fashioned, legal baseball surveillance. Jackson told The Athletic that the Blue Jays told him after the game he might have been tipping his pitches.
(Really, there was no mystery about what Jackson was throwing. He threw Judge six pitches. Every one was a slider. In the game, Toronto threw Judge 74% sliders. Hmm, wonder what was coming 3-and-2? Jackson even hung the predictable pitch.)
John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports
The Yankees probably knew about any tendency from Jackson even before the game. Clubs dedicate analysts to poring through ballpark video cameras that are zoomed in on pitchers to pick up any tells they may have with their set position, glove position, feet, etc. Such “scouting reports” are as common as what types of pitches a pitcher throws.
“That’s why you see almost every pitcher these days coming set with their hands tight against their belt,” says one veteran All-Star pitcher.
“I can’t tell you how many games we won last year because we had the pitches that way,” says a veteran bench coach.
The subterfuge by wandering base coaches is an ancient art in baseball. Before PitchCom, the electronic device that makes moot hand signals by catchers, one veteran third base coach would peek toward the catcher and sometimes tell his players, “Whoever wants the signs, I got ’em.” He would stand with one arm down for a fastball and two arms down for an off-speed pitch.
During a game last year, the Dodgers informed umpires they thought Giants first base coach Antoan Richardson was stealing and relaying signs. Umpires ordered him away from the foul line and closer to the box.
Sign security in the post-Astros world has become an increasingly important aspect of baseball. That is where the Blue Jays fell short Monday, both in monitoring Jackson’s high-set position and in the wanderings of Chapman— especially with extra layers of coaches and analysts in today’s highly technical game.
Their anger at the Yankees—and really, at themselves for the baseball equivalent of a data breach—was evident Tuesday after the fact. Manager John Schneider and his staff made a show of shouting at Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas for wandering too far from the coaching box.
