‘Stealing signs is part of the game.’ Max Scherzer thinks PitchCom should be illegal
Right-hander Max Scherzer spent his 38th birthday tormenting Yankees batters on Wednesday.
Scherzer held the Yankees to five hits over seven shutout innings as the Mets won 3-2 at Citi Field. He struck out six, and Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge fanned three times.
“This is fun,” Scherzer told MLB.com. “This is for bragging rights of New York.”
But there was one thing Scherzer didn’t like: using a PitchCom device to get signs from catcher Tomas Nido.
PitchCom was introduced to Major League Baseball this season. Catchers punch buttons on a device attached to their forearm and it sends a signal to the pitcher, who has a speaker in their cap.
Scherzer is not a fan, as he told reporters after Wednesday’s game.
“It works. Does it help? Yes. But I also think it should be illegal,” Scherzer said. “I don’t think it should be in the game. Stealing signs is part of the game. For me, I’ve always taken pride in having a complex system of signs and having that advantage over other pitchers.
“And so the fact that we’re taking this out of the game and we’re just putting in technology, now everybody — you can’t steal signs on second, the pitcher can’t have an advantage of having a complex system. It’s part of baseball trying to crack someone’s signs. Does it have its desired intent that it cleans up the game a little bit? Yes, but I also feel like it takes away part of the game.”
Scherzer, the former Mizzou pitcher, said it was his first time using PitchCom, and ESPN’s Buster Olney thought he only went to it for one batter.
“Yeah. Like I said, it works,” Scherzer told reporters. “But it’s taking away a part of the game, and that’s stealing signs. Stealing signs is part of the game.”
