Jesse Rogers
Multiple Authors
Base coaches in Major League Baseball will have to remain in their respective coaches’ boxes until the pitch is thrown after owners voted to enforce the rule Thursday at their annual meetings in Florida.
The goal is to curb coaches’ ability to ascertain what pitch is coming via pitch tipping — a practice that has become more prevalent over the last few years.
MLB’s joint competition committee recently agreed to the move before owners voted on it.
The issue came up because first and third base coaches have been moving up and down the line more frequently to facilitate better viewing angles of pitchers, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Based on pregame homework, coaches are able to figure out what pitch is about to be thrown and then either relay that to the hitter directly or indirectly via a runner on second base.
The issue came to a head before Game 7 of the World Series last year when both the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers were asked to keep their coaches in their boxes. Now, it will be enforced league-wide by umpires.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz said of MLB cracking down. “When you can control it with the coaches staying in the box, let’s stick to that. If it can minimize it a little, it would be welcome.”
Teams scour video before games in order to pick up the smallest patterns by pitchers or even catchers that indicate what kind of pitch is coming. Those patterns could involve anything from small body movements to finger placements in or out of the glove, or simply how big a breath a pitcher takes before throwing a certain pitch.
The time which used to be spent on stealing signs from the catcher — now mostly eliminated due to the use of PitchCom — is now being used for stealing pitches. None of the pregame work with video is illegal, and neither is coaches or players figuring out what pitch is coming in real time. But MLB felt coaches moving up and down the line for better angles was getting out of hand.
The rule already on the books states that coaches are not allowed out of the box while the pitcher is in contact with the pitching rubber until the ball is in play or caught by the catcher. The one exception is coaches are allowed to move closer to the dugout or stands for safety reasons. Moving up and down the line or towards the playing field won’t be tolerated anymore.
Coaches will first get a warning and then are subject to ejection if they don’t stay in their box.
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