When it was time for the relievers to compare notes, the Washington Nationals’ bullpen was suddenly a lonely place for Robert Garcia. After spending most of the season as the only lefty in Washington’s bullpen, he had to settle for some (or, well, a lot of) alone time.
“My best friend,” he joked in July, “is the iPad.”
An iPad on which he could watch, over and over, the hitters’ body language. Slowing video down to pick up on the tics, quirks and oddities that the hitters he would face exhibited against left-handed pitching - or anything he could learn about how batters responded to it.
A 4.39 ERA aside, Garcia grades out as one of the best relievers in baseball via expected statistics and strikeout rate. Credit the nasty change-up and the odd arm angle that makes his pitches appear as if they arrive from down the first baseline. Credit the faith he has in his stuff, which - all his studying aside - he still values more than what he sees in a hitter’s body language unless he notices something truly out of the ordinary.
Just make sure you also credit the mastery with which Garcia reads the mystery inside the batter’s box - a tenet that has helped him transform from a let’s-see-if-this-works waiver claim from the Miami Marlins last year into a key part of the Nationals’ future bullpen.
“The body of the hitter gives a lot of answers,” Garcia said. “When we throw pitches, we’re trying to receive information. … So I pay attention to where the body is, and then sometimes you have to go back and watch in slow motion. For me, I learned that helps me understand what they’re trying to do.”
Most pitchers learn the ropes as they grow up, in Little League or high school. A hitter crowding the plate is covering for an outside pitch, while one who backs off is looking for an inside pitch. Visibly frustrated hitters - duh - can be taken advantage of. Unsurprisingly, it gets a little more difficult in the majors.
For Nationals reliever Jacob Barnes, a full-fledged study of opposing hitters began in 2019, when he had a hip injury, tore his labrum and lost his velocity. “I was like: ‘Oh, I can’t out-stuff guys. I actually have to pitch now,’” he said. For right-hander Josiah Gray, who is on the mend after Tommy John surgery, that moment came in high Class A, when he sought out any advantage that he couldn’t find in college. “I don’t think it’s anything any pitcher hasn’t recognised,” he said. “But it’s tricky.”
Garcia’s pursuit began in earnest last year. While facing the Marlins late last season, he got Bryan De La Cruz to strike out on three straight change-ups. When Garcia faced De La Cruz the next day, the hitter was suddenly a tad closer to the mound, with his stance spread out a bit more. De La Cruz blooped a well-located change-up for a single. “Welcome to the big leagues,” Garcia thought to himself.
“Pitchers tend to try to watch those kind of things,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “We try to teach these guys how to be conscious of that as well because it can help you.”
So where do pitchers start?
Yes, hitters will move incrementally in the batter’s box, perhaps a few inches foretelling a plan. Pitchers also look at the angle at which the player leans over the plate with his upper body compared with his traditional stance - usually a matter of a few degrees, often changed within an at-bat, and with a wholly different meaning depending on the pitcher’s arsenal.
After a pitch, clues generally come when batters swing awkwardly or not at all at a pitch the scouting report says they like to mash. How much they open their hips on a swing can also indicate something. Occasionally, batters will show their frustration by rolling their eyes, pursing their lips or cursing to themselves; those hints, though obvious, are rare.
There is, however, a bit of game theory involved. Pitchers generally agreed that most position players do not know when a pitcher is observing their stance. But there are hitters, usually veterans, who thrive off trickery.
Sometimes that is via showing frustration on an 0-0 swing. Pitchers were hesitant to reveal active players - lest they give up an advantage publicly - but Barnes floated now-retired star Miguel Cabrera as one example. When the pair were teammates in 2022 with the Detroit Tigers, Cabrera told Barnes he would occasionally miss big on the first pitch of the at-bat, hoping to goad pitchers into throwing the same pitch again.
Over time, pitchers pick up on those things. Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres and Nolan Arenado of the St Louis Cardinals, for instance, have stances and swings that change on a series-by-series basis, rather than from one at-bat to another, Barnes said. Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve stands far outside the box, daring pitchers to throw outside. Gray has clocked that. And when a veteran such as the Padres’ Xander Bogaerts makes a change, Barnes said, it can be quite noticeable.
“A lot of people wouldn’t notice it,” Garcia said. “But you notice it when you’re pitching, when you’re out there and all of a sudden he looks a little bit closer.”
With so much to focus on, though, there’s a tough balance to strike, one that Garcia has seemed to capture effectively. Rookies DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker said they’re still learning how to study the hitter in the box. Herz relies on his catchers to relay information about the hitter’s body language because of how violently he falls off the mound. For Parker, it’s a secondary concern unless the pitches feel good out of his hand and hitters are still connecting.
There’s simply too much to think about. A batter who misses a hanging slider and adjusts his stance could be gearing up to hit the pitch again, Barnes explained. Or he could adjust his stance, knowing Barnes is looking, when he’s really trying to hit a fastball. Or maybe Barnes still has the advantage because the shape of his slider doesn’t usually look like the one he just hung. Or maybe, well, the best thing to fall back on is the initial approach.
“I reiterate that, ‘Hey, you, you better stick to your game plan,’” Martinez said. “Because I’ve seen guys shake their heads like, ‘Oh, yeah, you know, oh, wow.’ Then next thing you know, you try to say, ‘Okay, I’ve got them now,’ and you don’t get them.”
“Yeah, you can overanalyse it,” Barnes said, chuckling.
A three-week inquest in Hamilton is investigating the Olympian's death in 2021 aged 24.