Ben Macdonald - Merit to Brewers cheating?

[RZNJ]

25 minutes ago, Explosivo said:

I mean here a player is wearing it and during an interview, you can clearly hear it, so it’s louder than we think.

Some of the infielders have the pitch com as well.  You’re hearing it from the pitchcom of the player being interviewed, not from the pitchers pitch com.

[Explosivo]

Just now, RZNJ said:

Some of the infielders have the pitch com as well.  You’re hearing it from the pitchcom of the player being interviewed, not from the pitchers pitch com.

Well in the Sanchez homer, there was a runner on second. Hm.

[yark14]

What do these four people have in common?

Ben McDonald
Joey Ortiz
DL Hall
Corbin Burnes

To quote the masterpiece film Zoolander: "If you pull the thread, the whole thing will unravel".

 

Edited April 14 by yark14

[RZNJ]

2 minutes ago, Explosivo said:

Well in the Sanchez homer, there was a runner on second. Hm.

Hmmm.   The dude was wearing a microphone and the tv audio picked up the pitchcom.  LOL

[Explosivo]

2 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Hmmm.   The dude was wearing a microphone and the tv audio picked up the pitchcom.  LOL

Heh I understand, there’s probably nothing there. The signals would be encrypted 

[RZNJ]

5 minutes ago, Explosivo said:

Heh I understand, there’s probably nothing there. The signals would be encrypted 

Not sure of the technology but it seems probable that there’s a way to beat it.   I just don’t think there’s a team that will risk it.  Isn’t that how the Astros got caught?    If Joey Ortiz gets traded back to the Orioles and we meet the Brewers in the WS, don’t you think he’s going to say something about it?

[Jammer7]

2 hours ago, baltfan said:

He definitely was talking about something  untoward. All of this came up, in him, speculating as to why there had been a bench clearing incident. 

I don’t disagree, he was hinting. I doubt it involves pitchcom hacking. It could be that they are getting feedback from runners or coaches on location. Maybe the hitters are peaking. If the pitch is up, it isn’t off speed, so guessing FB is safe. 

Someone might wear one today, and it seemed there was a few message pitches yesterday. 

[Rbiggs2525]

Wish I heard his comments to get the context. I prefer our announcer would not make allegations like that. Watching the Red Sox series I thought to myself, when a player is holding the runner on, there’s a chance they could hear the pitch com. The umpires check the pitchers gloves and hand but nobody checks the players hats. Could there be an hearing device in the helmet? Manfred really messed things up by the wrist slap to Astros and Alex Cora. They did not really discourage cheating.

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, Rbiggs2525 said:

Wish I heard his comments to get the context. I prefer our announcer would not make allegations like that. Watching the Red Sox series I thought to myself, when a player is holding the runner on, there’s a chance they could hear the pitch com. The umpires check the pitchers gloves and hand but nobody checks the players hats. Could there be an hearing device in the helmet? Manfred really messed things up by the wrist slap to Astros and Alex Cora. They did not really discourage cheating.

The GM and manager were suspended a year.   Do you think the next team thinks that’s the worst they’ll get?   

[eddie83]

I saw the game yesterday but wasn’t able to hear the announcers.  
 

I would be very surprised there isn’t correlation between what Ben said and the Friday incident. 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

14 hours ago, rm5678 said:

He was specifically referring to the Gary Sanchez homer on Friday night. He noticed that Sanchez was late on a fastball on the previous pitch, but then on the next pitch (high fastball) hit it as if he knew what was coming. I don't know if there's any merit to his statement, but it was interesting that he said that.

Sanchez has always sold out to the fastball and has the ability to crush it. He was late, then sat fastball and sped the bat up.

It was an 0-1 count and he was late on a fastball. Pretty good guess that he would get another fastball.

[Rbiggs2525]

8 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

The GM and manager were suspended a year.   Do you think the next team thinks that’s the worst they’ll get?   

I think this is an issue that you have to set a precedent to make sure never happens again. Personal opinion would have suspended Astros GM, manager and bench coach for life with reevaluations every 5 years. Would have suspended every player on the team including call ups for full season without pay. 

[Say O!]

I noticed during both Fri and Sat games that the Brewers catchers would come set and flash receiving position with their glove in one location (like they were calling for a pitch up or a pitch in) prior to the pitch being thrown and then once pitcher motion began would move to second location where pitch would ultimately be delivered.

So my suspicion is that Brewers players (Sanchez, Adames, etc) were either (a) peeking back at McCann to see location, or (b) getting signal from runner on base. I think it was the former that set McCann off on Adames because he saw stealing a peak back at the glove.  Some of this could be mitigated if McCann actually called better pitch mix and moved in/out….to me McCann was basically setting up outside almost exclusively and would just vary up/down. And he would very early set his target for the pitchers. 

[survivedc]

My two thoughts are A-Hyde also seemed upset in that incident and B-while I didn’t hear Ben’s comments, I’m sure he gets good info from the locker room and wouldn’t just speculate wildly.
 

I’m also CERTAIN that he didn’t simply “forget” that pitch com exists as one poster postulated.

[Explosivo]

57 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Not sure of the technology but it seems probable that there’s a way to beat it.   I just don’t think there’s a team that will risk it.  Isn’t that how the Astros got caught?    If Joey Ortiz gets traded back to the Orioles and we meet the Brewers in the WS, don’t you think he’s going to say something about it?

It’s simply software that encrypts these devices. If there’s a will, there’s a way. That being said, it would have to be done for each team and each game unless the encryption per team does not change. I highly doubt that. It’d be interesting to see the software and consult with forensics professionals to see if there’s a potential problem with these devices. I wonder if pitchcom has taken that action or if MLB through their vetting process has done that as well.