Astros’ Zack Greinke has been telling batters what pitch he will be throwing
It usually means bad things for a pitcher if he is tipping pitches.
But Astros pitcher Zack Greinke hasn’t been worried about that this season. In fact there are times he has been signaling to the catcher was pitch is coming. On Wednesday against the Giants, he even called out to catcher Martin Maldonado that he was changing signs.
It’s easy to spot the flaw in that plan for most pitchers: the batter can see what you are preparing to throw.
But Greinke, the former Royals star, isn’t like most pitchers.
“Today, there was a man on second base and it got all messed up and it took longer than I was hoping it would take,” Greinke said. “It’s 50 percent my fault and 50 percent Maldy’s fault. ... I don’t like taking a long time with a man on second base especially. I’m trying to find a way to speed that up. So far this year, it’s been good. It got messed up today.”
“Second set after one,” Greinke said in that video, then changed it to, “second set after two.”
Greinke also used a hand signal before throwing a pitch:
Over the weekend, cameras spotted Greinke giving signs while Oakland’s Marcus Semien was batting. In that instance, there wasn’t a runner on second base. The Houston Chronicle said Greinke signaled a curveball was coming and then threw that pitch, but Semien popped out.
“Sometimes I call the same pitch that I throw,” Greinke told the Chronicle. “Most of the time it’s not the same pitch.”
Whatever Greinke is doing, it’s working. He struck out seven and allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings on Wednesday night. For the season, he has a 2.53 ERA.
“I think they broke the mold on Greinke,” Astros manager Dusty Baker told reporters after Wednesday’s game. “You probably won’t see another Greinke in your lifetime or mine.”
