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A sign is when the crouching catcher flashes a hand gesture between their legs to indicate to the pitcher which type of pitch to throw against the batter. The A

by dole 7y ago

A sign is when the crouching catcher flashes a hand gesture between their legs to indicate to the pitcher which type of pitch to throw against the batter. The Astros adjusted the placement of a camera to better see the catcher’s signs, someone on a laptop in the locker room watching the camera would see the sign, bang on a trash can to make a loud noise the dugout and presumably the batter to know when (usually) a fastball was coming. Fastballs have less curve on them, making it easier for the batter to hit when they know one’s coming.

mroche 7y ago
Two points, according to the article (unless I misread something): They were hopping off the center field feed. This is the feed that viewers at home see when a pitch is thrown. If someone spent the time at home, you could catalog all the signs between a pitcher and a catcher just fine. They were looking for offspeed pitches, i.e changeups. This is a pitch used to fake out a batter through a speed change. Most standard pitches are thrown in the 85+ mph range, including the breaking (curve, slider) ball types. Fastballs, with current players, are in the mid-90s+ with a few throwing 100. A changeup is significantly (relatively) slower than these pitches so a batter will swing much earlier than normal and completely miss the ball. However, if the player guesses right or is told this particular pitch is coming, it’s pretty much like hitting a ball off a tee, for all intents and purposes.
- dole 7y ago
  The Astros also adjusted the placement and angle of that center field feed in order to get a better unobstructed view of the catcher’s signs around that time as well. Before and after images showing the difference of position from what was supposed to be the same camera and how much better the view was.
  - mroche 7y ago
    Interesting. Wasn’t mentioned in the article but I’ll take your word for it. I mistook your original statement to mean they had a second camera in that position. My sibling is a more enthusiastic sports fan (though baseball was the one sport I actually played) than me, so I’ve been getting most of my info from them. This is the first writeup on the matter I’ve gone through.

by dole 7y ago

mroche 7y ago

Two points, according to the article (unless I misread something): They were hopping off the center field feed. This is the feed that viewers at home see when a pitch is thrown. If someone spent the time at home, you could catalog all the signs between a pitcher and a catcher just fine. They were looking for offspeed pitches, i.e changeups. This is a pitch used to fake out a batter through a speed change. Most standard pitches are thrown in the 85+ mph range, including the breaking (curve, slider) ball types. Fastballs, with current players, are in the mid-90s+ with a few throwing 100. A changeup is significantly (relatively) slower than these pitches so a batter will swing much earlier than normal and completely miss the ball. However, if the player guesses right or is told this particular pitch is coming, it’s pretty much like hitting a ball off a tee, for all intents and purposes.

dole 7y ago
The Astros also adjusted the placement and angle of that center field feed in order to get a better unobstructed view of the catcher’s signs around that time as well. Before and after images showing the difference of position from what was supposed to be the same camera and how much better the view was.
- mroche 7y ago
  Interesting. Wasn’t mentioned in the article but I’ll take your word for it. I mistook your original statement to mean they had a second camera in that position. My sibling is a more enthusiastic sports fan (though baseball was the one sport I actually played) than me, so I’ve been getting most of my info from them. This is the first writeup on the matter I’ve gone through.