Tyler Glasnow Tips his pitches to the Astros in the ALDS, a breakdown

Oct 11, 2019 2.2M views 4:12

MLB Houston Astros 2019

What Happened

In Game 1 of the 2019 ALDS, the Astros torched Rays starter Tyler Glasnow for four runs in the first inning, and Jomboy's breakdown shows why: Glasnow was tipping his pitches based on where he rested his glove during his setup. Glove above the letters meant fastball, glove below meant curveball. Houston hitters clearly came in looking for it, with Springer, Altuve, Bregman and Correa all sitting on the right pitch. The video walks through at-bat after at-bat showing hitters spit on breaking balls and ambush 98-mph fastballs because they knew which was coming.

Why This Matters

Pitch tipping is one of baseball's quiet killers, and the Astros were notorious for hunting it in 2019. Glasnow had electric stuff that year, but velocity means nothing when the hitter knows it's coming. The clip shows Bregman essentially relaying the tell to Correa mid-inning, the kind of in-game intelligence that turns a good lineup into a wrecking crew. The four-run first set the tone for an eventual Houston ALDS win over Tampa Bay. There's added irony given that the Astros' sign-stealing scandal would explode just months later, in November 2019, reframing how fans viewed Houston's uncanny ability to know what was coming. Glasnow himself later acknowledged the tipping issue and worked to fix it, but the damage in this start was done before the second inning even started.

At 2.2M views this breakdown ranks #92 of 1,583 Jomboy videos, putting it in the top 5.8% of the entire catalog.

Key Moments

Who / What Is Involved

Players: Tyler Glasnow. Teams: Astros.

the Astros were all over the Rays

pitcher glass now last night all over

them in the first inning

this one's brought to you by these

sports ladder and it's going to be a bit

of a longer video because we got a lot

to talk about this is what happened you

see his glove level these are two

different pitches it's where he rests

his glove that's what was going on so if

we go even further look one is above the

letters one is below the letters above

fastball below curveball the Astros must

have known this may happen going in and

been on the lookout for it the rest of

the delivery is the same it's just all

where he rests so this is the first

pitch of the game and it's kind of a

Midler area I mean it's I would guess

curveball knowing what we know but it's

actually a fastball so there's some

exceptions it wasn't always you know

exactly and there's sometimes reason in

the middle this one is lower again but

then look it gets high

Springer sees that all over the fastball

so this had to be something the Astros

were like hey be on the lookout for this

Altuve is up and this is the first pitch

and that's low the gloves at the letters

below it that's a curveball

Altuve doesn't really like curveballs he

likes fastball so he just takes that one

the next pitch out to baguettes look at

that above the letters on his chest

Altuve knows all right this is a

fastball I love fast balls BAM 98 I

don't care

gonna hammer it all over our 2p looks at

the dugout says yep he's doing it it's

on yeah it's going on be on the lookout

for it now this Bregman at bat is the

biggest example because look at this

that's a curveball the glove is down and

look at Bregman spit all over this

curveball no interest knew it was coming

no thank you

next pitch he knew a fastball was coming

and he tried to jump it he couldn't he

says you know what this next one's a

curveball I can tell by his glove and I

yeah I think maybe hitting the curbs

gonna be easier than it in the 98

mile-per-hour fastball so he takes this

curveball and he's all over it and

smokes it to right-center now let's see

how

Perez was up Alvarez the glove was never

very high or very low he was in a Midler

area he grounds out but now girls up and

that's a fastball right it was above the

letters he takes next pitch so low so

dramatically low that he knows this is a

curveball and he's amped up for it BAM

another base hit another run and this is

where things got interring you see

Bregman say if it's down it's a

curveball if it's up it's a fastball

tells Cray that and now I don't know

what happened here but glass now said

yeah I was tipping my pitches and after

all that I was getting a little nervous

and you can see in his face what the

[ __ ] is going on Correa must have been

hunting a curveball cuz he takes

fastball takes fastball again he's in an

O 2 count ready for the curveball but

it's a bad pitch so he just takes it now

he's got to protect because he's got two

strikes on him and then this he gets the

curveball so it wasn't always

dramatically they knew what was coming

but sometimes they did and that's enough

to score four runs in inning when you

know what's coming

read it got off fast balls but the glove

was kind of in a Middler area for him

like that one little high little low

nothing drastic yes so there you go

that's basically what happened glass now

is tipping his pitches it's all had to

do with where his glove sat this is

pretty obvious if you are looking out

for this this is really obvious

sometimes they tip pitches and you still

can't even figure it out but someone can

see it and you can't this one I mean

once you know to look for this I think

everyone can see it it's a bad time is

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