Alex Avila.jpg

Alex Avila thinks the ideas that he is tipping his pitches by patting on his glove is crazy.

(AP File Photo)

CLEVELAND -- If Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila were giving off tells behind the plate and tipping pitches to opposing hitters, he would probably be the last to know about it. Clearly, he wouldn't do it on purpose. If he knew he were doing it, well, he wouldn't do it.

But Avila is a good source of information on some key elements. How often does he pat his glove? How often do baseball players or teams break the opposing team's code? How hard is it to figure out what the other team is planning?

Alex Avila

A story gained steam on the Internet this week after Hardball Talk published an email from a reader who thought he might have partially broken a code. He said the Tigers pitcher threw a majority of fastballs if Avila patted his glove once and threw a majority of offspeed pitches if Avila patted his glove twice.

Of course, the reader -- "Bill" -- included the phrase "it's probably nothing" in his initial email. NBCsports.com published the letter without studying any video. The story gained steam on Twitter and among Tigers fans. Isn't the next logical step for media members to ask Avila for some time to discuss the theory?

No? Well, a group of writers did just that. Avila's response was not surprising.

"I've heard some crazy things," Avila said, "but that definitely takes the cake."

There are some glaring holes in the theory. Max Scherzer shut out the Kansas City Royals in the first, third and fourth innings Tuesday night yet gave up seven runs in the second. If opposing players knew what was coming, it seems likely that their success would be a bit more spread out. The truth is, Scherzer left a bunch of pitches up in the zone in the second inning. The Royals hit them.

Also, what is the explanation for the fact that Drew Smyly pitched extremely well with Avila behind the plate the very next day? If he were tipping pitchers to the exact same team, why wouldn't the Royals hit Smyly?

"That sounds a little ridiculous to me," Avila said of the pitch-tipping theory. "Drew only gave up two runs. Wouldn't they score more? A lot of times I'm not even patting my glove. Sometimes I do, but I don't do it all the time. … That's searching for something."

Someone asked whether a hitter would even pick up on a catcher patting his glove or whether a runner at second would be a necessity.

"That can't be the case because I know I don't pat my glove after every pitch," Avila said. "Not even close. When there's a runner on second base, there's always multiple signs."

Of course, it would be better for the Tigers if Avila were tipping pitches. If that was the source of all the team's pitching woes, it would be easily correctable. Much easier to correct than fixing all the troubles Scherzer, Justin Verlander et al have gone through recently.

Avila was asked how often a team breaks the other team's code. How often does a team in the majors know what's coming based on something they learned from another team's signs?

"Almost never," he said. "When we dominate a team -- I don't know if they say that or anything like that -- but we don't know anything. We're just on that particular day or that series. …

"Every pitcher has a complete different set of signals. Even signals from the coaches, they're all made so the other team doesn't pick them up."

Rod Beard of the Detroit News checked out some video of a recent Tigers game:

Avila, who is always willing to talk to the media about just about any baseball topic, seemed blown away that the glove patting was even a topic.

"Warn me next time so I don't walk into this," Avila said.

Seems fair.

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