Seattle Mariners star Josh Naylor sparked controversy with blatant sign stealing during a crucial Game 4 on Wednesday.
The Mariners faced the Detroit Tigers in a deciding Game 4 of the American League Division Series with the chance to seal their spot in the Championship series and send their opponents packing.
And with the series on the line, Naylor took matters into his own hands as he resorted to certain tactics to give his team an advantage.
Having got onto second base at the top of the fourth, the first baseman was caught relaying signs to his Mariners teammates back in the batter’s box. And he didn’t try to hide it.
He could be seen making arm motions to Mitch Garver at the plate to signal catcher Dillon Dingler’s positioning.
And Naylor’s gesturing – and the blatancy of it – left the Fox broadcast booth stunned.
Seattle Mariners star Josh Naylor sparked controversy with blatant sign stealing Wednesday
The first baseman was seen making arm motions to his teammate Mitch Garver at the plate
Former pitcher-turned-analyst Adam Wainwright wasn’t a fan of the antics at all as he weighed in on the coverage.
‘This is so blatant. I’ve never seen it so blatant in my whole life,’ Wainwright said. ‘[…] I don’t like it.’
‘We should establish, there’s nothing illegal about this. Not against the rules, back in the day there was a little bit of a gentleman’s agreement not to do it as obviously,’ commentator Tom Verducci clarified.
However, Wainwright still explained that, legal or not, the tactic could still prove to be effective in putting off the pitcher’s concentration.
‘I would turn around and look and if you see that, you can’t throw a pitch forward without meeting with your catcher and figuring out some sort of system to get past that. And that might be exactly what Naylor’s trying to get to happen – just focussed on not getting a pitch,’ Wainwright explained.
The Tigers ultimately stormed to a 9-3 victory to tie the series at 2-2 and force the Mariners to a Game 5 decider.
However, Naylor’s tactics still sparked controversy on social media with many baseball fans claiming that the move should have caused Naylor to be drilled with a pitch in retaliation.
‘His next time up should have had a pitch at his ear. Or throw to second on pick off and sweep a tag in his grill. No matter — Tigers took care of business anyway,’ one social media user claimed.
‘Should have put one in his ear when he led off the eighth as the Tigers were up 8-3,’ one insisted. ‘Give him a bruise to think about for game 5.’
Naylor (center) pictured in conversation with teammate Eugenio Suarez (L) and third base coach Kristopher Negron
‘He’d get one in the ribs next at bat,’ a third said, while a fourth added: ‘You can’t make him pay in the playoffs, but they need to make him pay at some point.’
Others appeared to agree with Wainwright that it was a ploy on Naylor’s behalf to put the pitcher off his game.
‘I truly think he’s just doing shit to f*** with them,’ one theorized. ‘Every sign he gave was something different. There was no consistency to indicate he actually was giving something meaningful.’
‘As a former professional player, I wouldn’t want a runner on second doing anything to distract me right before the pitch,’ another posted.
In Major League Baseball, sign stealing is legal by baserunners on the field as long as it is natural, i.e. no technology or any other added elements are used. That means teams are not allowed to install cameras that can see catchers’ signs.
The Houston Astros were caught illegally stealing signs during their 2017 World Series championship season. The team was caught using a center field camera to decode signs and then banging on a trash can in the dugout to relay the signs to their batters at the plate.
MLB investigated the Astros after the 2019 season, in which Houston went to Game 7 of the World Series again, and the league fined the team $5million and suspended manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Lunhow, who were ultimately fired by the Astros.
