Javy Baez might have ruffled the feathers of DJ LeMahieu and the Colorado Rockies, but he was absolutely in the right.
“If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” is, unfortunately, an old adage that applies to most professions and walks of life. It certainly applies to every professional sport, none more so than baseball, where signals are still relayed in the most rudimentary of fashions. Sign stealing has long been accepted as an acceptable practice in Major League Baseball, so much so that pitchers and catchers frequently met on the mound to change them up every time a runner reached second base for the first time.
The league’s new restrictions on mound visits might force the signs to be changed between innings from now on, but the fact remains that baserunners around the league will always be doing their best to catch a peak from second base and pass the information along to the batter or when they return to the dugout.
Most shortstops are powerless to do much to prevent sign stealing from going on right in front of their noses, but Javy Baez of the Chicago Cubs is not most shortstop.
Baez was under the impression that DJ LeMahieu of the Colorado Rockies had been stealing signs when he reached second base in the third inning. So, he did what any resourceful player would do — he parked himself right in front of the Rockies second baseman and screened him until after Jose Quintana and Victor Caratani had settled on a pitch.
This ploy did not sit very well with LeMahieu or the Rockies broadcasters, but there was nothing wrong with Baez doing what he did. While it is true that most attempts to relay signs to a batter don’t accomplish much, there is nothing good that can happen when Nolan Arenado stands in with knowledge of what pitch is about to be thrown his way.
Baez was rightfully incensed after the game and didn’t mince words when discussing the situation.
"“We’ve got to protect our team, our pitchers,” said Baez, who tried to block LeMahieu’s view between pitches once he saw LeMahieu signaling to hitter Nolan Arenado, then retreated to his shortstop position. “If you’ve got to do something else, I will do it. This game is hard enough.“A lot of teams do it, but don’t do it to our face. Because we’re going to do something about it. I don’t care who it is. I don’t care what the result is. … If they don’t like it, oh, well. It’s our team, and we’re going to do anything for our team.”"
Sign stealing has been accepted under baseball’s long list of “unwritten” rules (for those keeping up at home, bunting against the shift is wrong but cheating is not), to the point where a runner on second will use his own hand signals to telegraph which pitch is coming. It’s going to happen, but Baez and the Cubs are 100 percent in the right here. When a player picks up that an opponent is trying to steal signs, there is nothing wrong with getting in his face, especially with the restrictions on mound visits. A little bit of common sense would go a long way for many people in professional baseball.
In the end, Baez and the Cubs had the last laugh. Arenado struck out to end the at-bat, Baez hit his seventh home run of the season and drove in three more to push his MLB-leading RBI total to 23 and the Cubs won the series and built some much-needed momentum going forward.