Why Mets' James McCann looks like Napoleon when giving signs
Mets catcher James McCann during an instrasquad game at spring training on March 18 in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
Buck Showalter calls it the Napoleon Bonaparte for aesthetics, mostly.
While other catchers have their PitchCom stationed on their wrist or on their shin guard, Mets catcher James McCann has taken the rather unorthodox approach of stashing it inside his chest protector, using Velcro. When it’s time for the (audible) sign, he reaches in, feels for the center button and blindly chooses the correct indicators for the pitch type and location he wants.
The resulting image is that of a crouched McCann dipping his hand into his chest — a baseball-flavored facsimile of the French conqueror’s famous pose.
And in doing that, he has something else in common with good old Napoleon: He’s engaging in a little counter-espionage.
“If it’s sitting here,” he said Monday, pointing to his wrist, “can the dugout see what button you’re pressing? Whereas here,” he said, indicating his chest, “no one can tell.”
McCann said it’s also more comfortable on his chest, which makes sense; if it’s on his wrist, that’s just more bulk on an arm that has to be ready to gun down runners trying to steal. If it’s on his shin — as the Yankees’ Kyle Higashioka prefers — he has to worry about positioning his glove so the batter can’t see it from the corner of his eye.
Let’s face it: As technology advances to prevent sign-stealing, so will the ingenuity of players with 162 games worth of time to crack whatever protections might be in place. Guys want to win, baseball games are long, someone will come up with something and, at this point, that’s part of the fun.
“We know in today’s world, someone may be paranoid that [a batter] can see what button — top right or whatever,” Showalter said Sunday. “Where over here [on the chest], I call it the Napoleon Bonaparte. Everything’s got an angle today . . . NB, we call it. It’s another analytic: NB.”
But with all respect to the geopolitical acumen of the exiled emperor, not everyone is into the NB. Some pitchers, such as Max Scherzer, have expressed a distaste for the new technology, and McCann is just fine with doing things the old-fashioned way for people who feel similarly.
Even pitchers who have adopted PitchCom, such as Adam Ottavino, have had some hiccups. On Saturday, Citi Field was just too loud to hear anything and the Mets had to resort to signs (McCann said they’re always prepared for those eventualities).
Any other hiccups? “Philly,” he said. “It stopped working on us.”
And though both he and Showalter are confident that PitchCom has the potential to help the rhythm of the game, things like this take time.
The abbreviated spring training meant catchers and pitchers all over baseball had only a few short weeks to figure it all out. For one thing, when a pitcher shakes off a sign, it can be a process to puzzle out what exactly he’s shaking off.
“If you choose pitch and location and the pitcher shakes you off, you don’t know if they’re shaking the pitch or location, whereas, when you’re using your fingers, it’s pretty simple just to alternate,” McCann said. “Just kind of the awkwardness of it all is trying to figure out the best possible way to do it. We’ve been working with it. For us, as a team, right now, we’re kind of leaving it as, whatever a pitcher is comfortable with. If he wants to use it, awesome, and if he doesn’t want to do it, we have signs.”
A multifront approach? Napoleon would approve.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
