TORONTO – Members of the Kansas City Royals are accusing the Toronto Blue Jays of stealing signs off their catcher in order to get upper hand when batters are at the plate.
Speaking with MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian, Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez said that Game 3 starter Johnny Cueto felt someone was relaying signs to Jays’ batters.
“He said, I think he said, they got a guy in centre field,” Volquez told Bastian. “You see how hard it is, he looks to the centre field and he sees somebody do this or do that, it’s really hard to do that. I don’t know, he said that, but when a guy gets on second base, he said something about that too, they were giving signs to the hitter. But I don’t know.”
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The Blue Jays have been accused before of stealing signs by planting someone in the outfield stands to relay the signs back to the team.
In 2011, ESPN reported the Jays were getting signs from a “Man in White” who was planted in the stands, more than 375 feet away from home plate.
Stealing signs from a catcher gives the batter and advantage by knowing which type of pitch is coming from the opposing team. It’s a part of the game to some degree.
When a runner is on base, the catcher will flash his pitcher multiple hand signs to try to protect his pitch request.
Volquez acknowledged the communication issues in a pitcher-catcher relationship.
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“You’ve got to hide the ball and have better communication with the catcher giving you signs when you’re pitching,” Volquez told Bastian. “So it’s nothing wrong with it. We just have to hide the ball and give multiple signs to hide it from them.”
Cueto was pulled in the third inning in Monday night’s game after giving up four runs.
Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson and Ryan Goins homered as the Jays went on to beat the Royals 11-8.
Here’s some of the reaction to latest sign-stealing accusations.
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