Yankees star Aaron Judge has been the subject of social media scorn and suspicions of cheating after he was seen looking in the direction of the team dugout in Monday night’s game against the Blue Jays.
Judge subsequently homered, and the internet went crazy, assuming the Yankees had some way of knowing which pitches were coming, perhaps channeling the cheating ways of the 2017 Astros.
It turns out the Yankees weren’t cheating at all.
Blue Jays righty Jay Jackson, the pitcher who gave up the home run to Judge, was optioned to Triple A following the game, and admitted to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that he was tipping his pitches.
Per Rosenthal, before Jackson came to the set position, he brought his hands up by his ear as he gripped the ball, which was a tell of what pitch he was going to deliver. The grip was visible to Yankees first base coach Travis Chapman, who was able to relay the information he gathered to the Yankees’ hitter in the box.
Everything the Yankees did, from Chapman relaying which pitch was coming, to Judge looking down the line for the information, is legal.
Jackson told Rosenthal that he was tipping his slider, but the “timing of his delivery was more of an issue than his grip.”
For what it’s worth, the Blue Jays did not accuse the Yankees of any sort of cheating, and despite all of the wild internet accusations, it appears that New York wasn’t cheating after all.
