M’s Rojas: Yankees’ Schmidt ‘was clearly tipping’
NEW YORK — With a little nod of his neck as he took his lead off second base, Josh Rojas seemed to signal Mariners teammate Dylan Moore that a cutter was coming from Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt.
Moore drove the 93.1 mph pitch 386 feet into the left-field seats for a 2-0 lead, helping Seattle to a 6-3 win over New York on Tuesday night.
“Everybody’s always trying to look for something,” Rojas said Wednesday. “We’re out there trying to find anything we can to gain an advantage.”
MLB Network showed a frame-by-frame comparison of Schmidt in the set position with Moore at the plate in the third inning. Rojas could see none of the ball before a sinker, a little of the ball ahead of a sweeper and a significant portion before a cutter.
Moore had fouled off Schmidt’s first full-count pitch, a sweeper, before the right-hander came back with a cutter.
“You can see in the video he was clearly tipping,” Rojas said.
Schmidt, 28, said after the game the Yankees were aware of the tipping and quickly worked to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.
“Obviously tipping is a part of this game and it’s a factor and it’s always in the back of our heads and something that we’re well aware of,” Schmidt said. “They got two runs on it. But I was able to make adjustments after we saw the video and just part of the game. Another factor in it.”
Schmidt said tipping had been an issue with him in the past.
“It’s just something that we’re constantly with all our guys paying attention to and working on,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Mariners manager Scott Servais, a big league catcher from 1991 to 2001, said technology has forced teams to become more alert to tipping.
“You didn’t have all the cameras and all the people working in front offices. It was actually a learned skill,” Servais said. “The days that you weren’t playing, you’re just locked in on that pitcher. Where does he comes set? When does his hand go into his glove? Where’s his eyes? Does he bite his lip when he throws his slider? There’s all kinds of stuff that happens, and in our day, you would just sit and stare at the guy until you try to figure it out for yourself.”
Asked who was the best at picking up tips, Servais brought up his own experience.
“Veteran players that didn’t play much — like myself — knew what to look for,” he said. “I always thought catchers had a good sense for it because they all knew that pitchers all did something a little bit different.”
Rojas said figuring out pitch tips “is a pretty common thing.”
“Even if you have something, it’s still pretty hard to get a hit,” he said.
Major League Baseball’s approval in 2022 of the PitchCom device for communication between pitchers and catchers has largely eliminated catchers signaling pitchers — and the ability of runners at second to pick up those signs. That causes runners to focus on the pitchers.
“Now it’s strictly a game of trying to find little things like that that will give you a tell,” Rojas said.
Texas Rangers right-hander Max Scherzer said he will make his season debut Sunday against the visiting Kansas City Royals.
The Rangers, however, have yet to announce their starting pitcher for Sunday’s series finale versus the Royals in Arlington, Texas.
Scherzer has been working his way back after he underwent surgery on Dec. 15 to repair a herniated disc in his back. He is also dealing with a nerve issue in his thumb.
He is 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 11 innings (three starts) with Triple-A Round Rock.
Scherzer, who turns 40 July 27, was 4-2 last season with a 3.20 ERA in eight regular-season starts for Texas after being acquired from the New York Mets at the trade deadline.
He did not pitch in the wild-card or division series because of a shoulder strain and was 0-1 with a 9.45 ERA in two starts in the American League Championship Series. He started Game 3 of the World Series and pitched three scoreless innings in a 3-1 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
A three-time Cy Young Award winner and an eight-time All-Star, Scherzer is 214-108 with a 3.15 ERA and 3,367 strikeouts in 457 games (448 starts) for the Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mets and Rangers.
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