MLB 2026: Everything to know about MLB’s pitch-tipping craze

A decade ago, during the 2015 postseason, kansas city royals Heading toward the championship, one of their advance scouts spotted a pitcher tip off an upcoming playoff opponent. He couldn’t get that information to the Royals hitters fast enough.

Royals general manager JJ Piccolo recently recalled, “A pitcher was using a black glove and our advance scout picked up light reflecting off that glove.” “The deal was this: If you see light reflecting off the glove, it’s his breaking ball. If you don’t see any light, it’s his fastball. Because that’s how he swung his glove at the right angle.

“We scored a lot of runs because of it.”

In the years since, pitch tipping has become even more prominent in the game. It often seemed like this was the story of the 2025 MLB Playoffs, coming down to the series between los angeles dodgers And cincinnati reds, New York Yankees And toronto blue jaysand the Dodgers and philadelphia phillies.

This issue came to a head in the World Series when the Blue Jays and Dodgers base coaches were asked to stop wandering so far from the box – presumably to somehow help their hitters gain a better viewing angle on the pitcher’s hands and gloves.

That caveat to the 2025 World Series has been implemented this season as M.L.B. A new rule will require base coaches to be in their box before throwing a pitch.. This is a good indication of how much time and energy teams are putting into this issue, combining their staffs with advanced technology to try to pick up slight patterns from their opponents and their own pitchers.

“There’s a lot of consternation about what the base coaches are doing,” Athletics GM David Forst said. “This is one of those examples where reality is perception.”

What front offices care more about is making sure their own pitchers don’t tip. Tips can come in many forms, many of which involve the position of the pitcher’s glove and what he is doing with his fingers. But there are countless ways to tip a pitch.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson said, “A guy, you could tell by his mouth whether it was open or closed.” “Open was one kind of pitch. Closed pitch was another. Sometimes it’s quite obvious. Everybody can see it.”

ESPN tried to find out what teams are saying about pitch tipping — and how big of a deal it is in this era of baseball.

“It’s a big part of the game,” Giants GM Zack Minasian said. “It’s not illegal. If you can see the catch, it’s fair game. It’s not as regulated as it was 20 years ago. At that time, you might have had to work harder to send a message.”

How much does pitch tipping matter?

Rockies manager Warren Schafer: “We had a pitcher last year whose leg was straight when he was going to the plate and his leg was just as bent when he was going to first base. So they could run whenever they wanted. It’s frustrating. We can’t do that.”

Angels GM Perry Minasian: “I’ve seen teams have pitches and not score any runs. It’s still hard to hit. At Texas, we felt like we had Randy Johnson pitches, and we were all excited – then we look up and there’s a lot of zeros on the scoreboard.”

Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young: “A former teammate told me I was tipping, but I threw seven shutouts [innings] that night. … I got lucky that day, although I can’t remember how I tipped.”

Perry Minasian: “All 30 of us are concerned about all these things. You don’t want to give an advantage to any competitor. The margins are so thin that even the smallest advantage can tip the scales.”

What are your favorite anecdotes about pitch tipping?

Reds manager Terry Francona: “I wasn’t very good at it, but I knew when they were throwing to first. I can’t tell you why. … There’s a lot of video now. We want to make it as hard as possible.”

white sox pitcher shaun newcombe: : “I was chewing gum so hard. I would chew fastballs aggressively and then stop breaking balls. I didn’t know it was an issue until a teammate told me.”

Padres manager Craig Stammen: “The Dodgers were always on top of that thing. When they had a runner on second base, I spiked my curveball. I couldn’t hide my glove any better than that. So whatever pitch I had, I tried to spike it to wear them out a little bit. … We’re definitely going to spend time on it.”

Jack Minasian: “When I was a bat boy, a player would give me a tip to the first-base coach and tell the baserunner who would then relay it to the hitter. I was part of the game. That must have happened a few times. I think I can tell now.”

Giants manager Tony Vitello: “It was incredibly prevalent in college. The SEC is big money. You start coming down, some teams don’t have the manpower or video power to dive that high. The top teams are doing that.

“friends [in MLB] Allow runners to advance so they are not on second base. When the game was going on in the locker room in college and we saw it, we thought it was pretty wild. This was not happening in college.”

How much of your day is spent tipping pitches – either stopping your pitchers or finding your opponents?

Youth: “We have a review process independent of the outcome. Often they think they were cheating and we look and it’s like, ‘No, you were just throwing it in the middle.’ It’s a big part of modern-day baseball. It’s more about prevention than finding the other team’s tactics.”

First: “It’s natural, if the results are bad, you’ll delve deeper into it.”

Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen: “We spend a lot of time with our pitchers on defensive pitch tipping. It’s part of almost all of our internal conversations one-on-one with our pitchers. Our staff keeps an eye out all the time. We’re never sure after a bad game how much a pitch is tipping after a bad outing. We sometimes try to cross-check it with other teams because making changes to things that aren’t realistic can also lead you down a bad path.”

Newcombe: “It’s something you incorporate into your routine. What you do with your glove. What you do with your body. Pitch grips. It starts with playing catch every day so you’re worrying about it on opening day.

Piccolo: “It’s an ongoing effort. Some teams are better at it than others. We’ve ramped up our efforts after 2023. We have a lot of people on our staff, behind the scenes, getting input from our hitters. That’s an advantage. We can’t turn a blind eye to it.”

Schafer: “It needs to be a bigger part. In the past, it hasn’t been a bigger part. There’s been a lot of focus on it in the offseason, bringing guys in for it. It just takes a team a tip on a reliever in an inning and that’s what the game is about. If our guys have a tip, we need to clean it up. It’s going to be a bigger focus.”