Sign-stealing is creating second order problems
I was struck by the juxtaposition of the fallout of the Astros (and now Red Sox) electronic sign-stealing scandal and this viral video of Aaron Rodgers casually changing a play call with just seconds left on the play clock.
After all, if NFL teams can communicate complicated information with the whole world watching, certainly catchers can adequately encrypt their pitch calls.
And in fact, that’s basically what has happened. Look no further than the lengths the Washington Nationals took in the 2019 World Series.
Could the catchers move faster? Surely. But football teams are forced to communicate quickly because of the play clock. Without a change in incentives (like a pitch clock), I would expect MLB batteries to continue being safe and slow rather than fast and sorry.
Linsley asking Rodgers "What do you want to do here?" with 7 seconds left on the play clock like its nothing... pic.twitter.com/lkckRMdGVp— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) January 13, 2020
After all, if NFL teams can communicate complicated information with the whole world watching, certainly catchers can adequately encrypt their pitch calls.
And in fact, that’s basically what has happened. Look no further than the lengths the Washington Nationals took in the 2019 World Series.
The issue with all of this? It's eating up time. Despite being relatively low-scoring, the World Series games took forever. The most egregious example was Game 3, which became the longest game in history to finish in nine innings with fewer than six runs scored at 4 hours, 3 minutes.The Nationals also decided that they would use multiple signs regardless of whether there was a runner on second base or not. No one on? Runner on first? Let’s make sure the catcher runs through a series of signs anyway, just in case.Next came the way the Nats employed their signs, which was non-traditional. Rather than just use, say, the second sign the catcher put down, the Nats might “chase the two.” That meant the pitcher would watch for the catcher to put two fingers down, and then throw the pitch that corresponded to the following sign. Or they could play “outs plus one.” So if there was one out, the pitch would be the second sign the catcher put down. If there were no outs, it would be the first sign. “Strikes plus one” worked the same way.
Could the catchers move faster? Surely. But football teams are forced to communicate quickly because of the play clock. Without a change in incentives (like a pitch clock), I would expect MLB batteries to continue being safe and slow rather than fast and sorry.
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