The Giants homered four times in one inning for the first time since 2011 last week, in a wild game vs. the White Sox where they hit a total of seven long balls. All four home runs in the fifth inning came at the expense of Michael Kopech, who was eventually pulled after giving up the fourth blast to David Villar.
A video by baseball video analyzer extraordinaire Jomboy appears to have uncovered that Kopech’s issue went beyond not having his best stuff. The above video illustrates that Kopech was tipping his pitches by changing his glove positioning when he was throwing curveballs.
When Kopech was throwing the curveball, his glove would flare up. When he was throwing his other pitches, the glove would remain flat on his wrist. Once they identified the tell, you can see Giants hitters staring directly at Kopech’s glove has he got set to throw.
Apparently, Brandon Crawford didn’t get the memo. In a game in which the Giants had 14 hits and seven home runs, Crawford went 0-for-4. He told Tolbert & Copes on Wednesday that he wasn’t aware Kopech was tipping pitches.
“Let’s rewind for a second: We had a tip on somebody in Chicago, that’s what the reporting is?” Crawford said perplexed. “I wish I would have gotten it. Unfortunately I didn’t notice it or hear anything about it. I didn’t hear that one.”
It could be that the Giants as a whole didn’t actually know about Kopech’s tell, and they just got the best of him. That would seem more likely than a bunch of players knowing about the pitches being tipped and Crawford not being in the loop. It’s also possible that Crawford knew about it, but elected not to reveal that the Giants were onto Kopech.
Considering the subtlety of the tell, it would have been a pretty incredible discovery by the Giants. In addition, the Giants hitters also deserve credit for hitting the balls out even if they knew what was coming. Overall, it’s good for Kopech too, who can now clean up a serious issue.