Brandon Belt set an MLB record with a 21-pitch AB on Sunday. He fouled off 16 two-strike pitches before making an out. The opposing pitcher was Jaime Barria, who somehow threw 49 pitches in the inning without allowing a run. That sound you just heard was Chris F’s head exploding as he stares at a 16.33 PPO.
“The cards and coding system are the ideas of Rockies bench coach and former major-league catcher Mike Redmond.
Redmond had wanted to implement a better signaling system for years. He was inspired by watching college games, noting how often teams were able to switch their signs and calls when using a similar system. He also wanted to make life easier for catchers, a simpler method so they could focus more on calling a game. He began to implement the system at the beginning of last season when the Rockies had a younger, less experienced starting catcher in Wolters, who had begun his professional career as an infielder.
“I’ve been thinking for years about putting in a system that stops guys from stealing signs and keeps up with the flow of the game,” Redmond said. “With the video and cameras on you all the time, if you don’t get creative and really mix up your signs it could cost you a game. What I wanted to do was eliminate that and make sure we had an easy system that worked well and flowed, and one that nobody could pick up.”
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-rockies-believe-they-have-an-unbreakable-code/
A very complex solution to an insignificent problem in my opinion.
I don’t think it’s complex. But at the same time I’m not sure how significant the problem is, either.
I guess the thing I’m most interested in is where you draw the line. I think it was last year that the coach in the dugout for some team – Dodgers? – was positioning the outfielders with the aid of a laser pointer and that was banned. But players can wear things on their wrist with various codes and that’s okay. Personally, I don’t see a problem with either one. Perhaps the fear is that the laser pointer would be used to distract the other team. But it seems you could institute a significant penalty for that and allow it for benign purposes.
16 ppo….man….thats impressive
Does anyone know why Juan Lagares was not in the starting lineup vs. the Braves when lefty Sean Newcomb was pitching over the weekend? Would have been the perfect time to give Jay Bruce a day off
Didn’t Matz throw a 16-pitch AB against the Marlins a couple of years ago. I want to say vs. Ozuna, but I could be wrong.
Interesting to see Granderson off to a hot start after all those years starting slow with the Mets.
The explanation earlier in the year was that he’s playing indoors in Toronto, and so he’s not being affected by cold Aprils any more.
As I noticed the minor league boxes tonight, I saw my first instance of the runner starting on second base. Fairly, the pitcher is not charged an earned run if that guy scores. The St. L Mets swept their DH scoring two in the bottom of the eighth after their opponent scored their own free base runner in the top half, but Columbia got swept in their DH and they went extras also, but their free runner didn’t score. However, in the second game, Viall pitched 5.1 innings and had a DP in there. So, he got 15 batters out, 12 by K! 80% of his outs were strikeouts! Wow…
Dunn also got a win, but he was mediocre. Peterson got shelled, 5 IP, 5 ER. Binghamton has Alonso and nothing else offensively. The Mets need to infuse some offense into this dreadful system.