Yanks figure out pitcher is tipping his pitches, a breakdown

Jun 4, 2022 3.1M views 8:25

What Happened

During a 2022 Yankees-Tigers game, Jomboy breaks down how New York cracked rookie Elvin Rodriguez's pitch tipping. After Josh Donaldson reached on a missed ball-strike call in the second, the Yankees got runners on and started watching Rodriguez's head from the stretch. The tell: if he looked straight ahead toward third base, a fastball was coming. If he didn't, off speed. Matt Carpenter laid down a bunt to confirm and pass the info along, and Detroit eventually started faking shakes and abandoning the fastball to fight back.

Why This Matters

Pitch tipping is as old as baseball, but this clip lands because it catches a rookie doing it in real time and shows the in-game counterplay. Rodriguez's tell was simple: head straight to third meant heater. Once the Yankees decoded it, Carpenter's bunt wasn't just a sacrifice, it was a confirmation that the whole dugout could trust. Watch Tucker Barnhart's response too. The catcher starts throwing exaggerated fake shakes and only sets up high fastballs out of the zone because he knows the hitters are sitting dead red. That's the chess match most fans never see. Rodriguez was running up his career-high pitch count in a 2-0 game, exactly the spot where a young arm leaks information under fatigue. It's a clean lesson in how big-league hitters hunt edges nobody else notices.

With 3.1M views, this one ranks #48 of 1,583 Jomboy breakdowns, putting it in the top 3% of the catalog.

Key Moments

Who / What Is Involved

Players: Aaron Judge, Elvin Rodriguez. Teams: Yankees, Tigers.

Key Terms Mentioned

Full Transcript

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This 3-2 pitch of Josh Donaldson changed the game

and probably not in the way you would expect.

Hinch shaking his head because that is a really well-executed 3-2 pitch

from his rookie pitcher, Elvin Rodriguez, right on the black.

Dots it.