Stealing signs

[Pared]

Any of you guys ever able to pick up signs of MLB teams while watching them for a while?

Like... when a runner is on second and the catcher throws down 4 or 5 signs... which is the one they go with?

Or a 3rd base coach giving the steal and/or hit and run sign?

[WazzuRC]

Re: Stealing signs

I think the MLB is so advanced with especially their pitch calls that its hard to figure out any sign that they do. I'm sure they switch it up almost every inning.

Not so much in the MLB, but in high school I was pretty good at picking up little things pitchers would do to tip their pitchers. What kind of movements they'd make before and during the pitch to let me know if it was fastball, curveball, etc.

[p_rushing]

Re: Stealing signs

If you had a MLB player/coach tell you what they do, it would be easier. When on 2nd, they don't really steal the sign, but they get location (inside or outside) and type of pitch (fastball or breaking). Location is easy, the pitch type is hard to pickup.

For 3rd base signals, they don't show them on tv. Its always some signal that says the next sign or 2 is the real one.

[Cletus]

Re: Stealing signs

usually when the catcher moves all four fingers that is the indicator (meaning the next sign is the pitch) sometimes it depends on the catcher.

[Pared]

Re: Stealing signs

I'm pretty sure if you're trying to catch the signs you know most of that stuff... but has anyone ever actually caught on to it?

For instance, you can remember the Tigers doing a Hit and Run after their coach taps the brim of their cap then their belt... or the third sign is the pitch to throw with a runner on first...

[Blzer]

Re: Stealing signs

If I'm in the dugout during my games, this is all I ever try to do. I'm watching a pitching coach, the catcher, third base coach... anything I can. On TV I can notice it a few times too, though I don't try and pick them per se. Often times a catcher will throw out a similar sequence of signs and location by the direction of their fingers and you can just predict it on your own.

But what is it that catchers normally do? I can't say for sure, but say they were consistently throwing out four signs. Occasionally for younger ball clubs (probably not MLB), you could expect something like:

First sign: Nothing
Second: Pitch type (or special modifier)
Third: Nothing (unless a special modifier is thrown)
Fourth: Location

By "special modifier", say the number of fingers to throw down is 5. After that, then they get another special 1 - 5 to look at. It may mean to pick-off, pitch-out, hold and wait for the batter to call time, shake off, or it could just be a fifth pitch.

And by "Location", I simply mean that sometimes they don't direct their fingers one way, but rather they have a number for each spot (1 = up and in, two = low and in, three = low and away, etc.). Just something that they may do.

However, in the MLB, I'm sure it's much more advanced. One thing I requested my catchers to do my senior year of high school was to throw out a sequence of numbers, and the pitch would be the number called after they throw out two fingers... and if a two wasn't displayed, the pitch would be a curveball. So, say the sequence was (by number of fingers thrown):

3, 1, 2, 1

Simple enough, probably a fastball (and then the catcher chooses location as well just by finger direction). Say they have another sequence that is:

1, 4, 3, 1, 3

That's a curveball.

Anyway, they could do things like that, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do. But picking signs is naturally part of the game. The other fun aspect is, once the sign is picked, how teams go about feeding it to each other. Simply, our high school team did little chants in the dugout between pitches, stirring up talk to rattle the pitcher and give momentum to our hitter. In these, we might throw out the player's name/nickname or number or something. If we pick any signs (curveball, most importantly), if we call out the batter's number, they know it's a curveball coming.

I never really care about trying to pick a third base coach's signs, primarily because I'm normally in center field and not the dugout. But I coach my little sister's softball team every summer with my dad, and that calls for opportune times to pick signs. Not only that, since they're much younger it's much more obvious.


It really does give teams an advantage, and it is in no way "cheating", as in it is unethical. Like they give signs, we try and make it as difficult as possible for them to not know that we have their signs. I think that is almost as tough to do as picking them. Of course, I'm young yet, and I'm honestly not sure how tough it is to pick signs in the MLB, so I won't go off pretending like I actually do know. But after having played baseball for fifteen years, I've learned ways in which sitting in the dugout can actually be fun. It's fun to do, and fun to practice. It almost becomes a skill to look for these things.




EDIT: I forgot to mention one other thing... teams will have "wipe-off" signs. Yes, even in pitching. Perhaps five fingers can mean wiping off the pitch that was called, and they would start the sequence over again. That's probably the biggest thing that could throw off teams when they think they have a sign picked, then they get shamed upon when they call it out and they are wrong because the other team uses a wipe-off. And the ultimately most difficult thing about signs, especially in the MLB, is they probably change them every series, if not every game. I know in my summer league last year, we changed our indicator every game. And aside from a wipe-off, if a coach believes he's being picked, he may change it mid-game just to fool the opponents.




Just small things to think about.

[BaseballCtchr]

Re: Stealing signs

I dont focus on signs will watching a MLB game. When I played I would steal signs. Honestly I watch game for enjoyment and I dont find sign stealing very fun.