Sign stealing has been a part of Major League Baseball for all of time, but there was a microscope put on it during the 2018 postseason and in particular the Los Angeles Dodgers as they were accused by both the Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox of the generally accepted misconduct.
Stealing signs from second base and doing so by using technology are two different things though, and Rich Hill believes it is important to make that distinction.
“Well, I think minus the use of technology, which I would hope is not going on, if guys are getting the signs from second base and relaying them to the hitter, you’ve got to be a little bit more savvy as a pitcher to have multiple signs and change your signs if something like that is going on,” Hill said during the World Series.
“I don’t have a problem with guys relaying signs from second base to the hitter because if you’re not kind of equipped to be prepared to change your signs to a different set of signs or a different — whatever your variation might be, that’s on you, the pitcher. That’s the way I look at it. But as far as the technological advances that continue to keep moving forward in this world, it’s going to be kind of a — hopefully not an uphill battle to combat the introduction of technology into giving teams advantages.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also agreed that as long as technology isn’t involved, then he doesn’t have a problem with teams attempting to steal signs. “I think that there’s, to your point, it’s been going on since the game came to be,” he said.
“There’s a gamesmanship part of it, where you’re trying to get an advantage and coaches, players, do that every day. But now when you kind of introduce technology and using that as an advantage, I think that there’s a line that’s crossed.
“That’s where Major League Baseball has done a really good job of trying to make sure that that doesn’t happen. But as far as kind of the sign stealing, I guess everyone’s probably guilty of that or attempting to do that.”
Clayton Kershaw stressed the importance of changing up signs and being aware of them potentially being stolen, especially during games that carry a magnitude as big as the World Series.
“I think everybody goes through it at some point in their careers. Usually when you’re younger people can kind of pick you apart, and over time figure out things,” Kershaw explained.
“And same thing with me. I think when I was younger I did some things like that and figured some stuff out, and some guys helped me out with that. Everybody is paranoid, so everybody is taking the necessary precautions. Yeah, so we’re all aware of everything going on.”
Given how many complaints there were this postseason, not just against the Dodgers, MLB may need to look into the matter this offseason and figure out a solution moving forward.
