Camerametrics

[E5 Yaz]

Tom Verducci goes into detail about spying in baseball, and how it contributes to slowing down the game

Here’s how quickly things have changed, according to a Dodgers source. Three years ago, if you walked into the Dodgers’ video room behind their Dodger Stadium dugout you would likely have found Zack Greinke pouring over video of opposing hitters, looking for any edge he could find to match up his stuff against their weakness. This year, if you walked into the same room you would have found a small army of 20-something analysts in polo shirts and slacks pouring over video from the in-house cameras, like the security room at a Vegas casino. Most teams train their cameras on the catcher, the pitcher (from several angles), the third base coach and the dugout.

These cameras are not used for training purposes. They are used expressly for stealing signs and deciphering “tells” from pitchers.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/11/02/cameras-stealing-signs-pace-play-rob-manfred

 

[Plympton91]

Great article by Verducci. The point about average time between balls in play was persuasive as well.

I absolutely agree with the sentiment that high definition cameras zoomed in to steal the catcher’s signs should be outlawed or they need to allow a different communication mechanism between pitcher and catcher. If that’s adding 1 second per pitch, it’s adding 5 minutes to the games.

Another thing that should be done is to say that any “video room” facility getting a live feed from the park and used during the game by the home team must also be open and available to the visiting team personnel. This would create a couple jobs as visiting teams would have to take video analysts on the road.

It does seem like what is described should have increased the home winning percentage of teams making the best use of it relative to their road percentage. Or the OPS at home vs away. Etc. That’s one thing to look at.

 

[Murderer's Crow]

Wow

• Defense is less important: The ball was not put in play in 37 percent of plate appearances.

 

[keninten]

Maybe the pitchers will start working faster so signs can`t be stolen and relayed as easily. Wishful thinking on my part.

 

[charlieoscar]

Couple of comments about Verducci's article: First, he says that "Games take 43 minutes longer: The average game time was 3:47.42, up from 3:04 in the regular season."

You can't use average regular season time because the Red Sox and Dodgers averaged 3:13 per game in regular season; the Yankees, 3:11; only the Astros were at MLB average.

Second, he quotes David Price as saying: “You’re taught ever since you were a little kid to be able to slow the game down and now baseball wants to speed it up,” he said after World Series Game 2. “I don’t care. I’m taking my time. I know I’m slow.”

This makes me wonder how Price's performance will hold up if MLB begins enforcing time between pitches.