Ingame video returns this year
For Chris Owings’ first seven years in the majors, he could pop into the video room to take a look at his atbats during a game. Then last season, the utility infielder for the Colorado Rockies had to make do with a printout.
“You’d come back in the dugout and you’d say, ‘Hey, where was that pitch at?’ ” Owings said Monday. “It would be like it is on the MLB app where it just shows where the pitch crossed the plate. You go from seeing every pitch where it crossed, where your swing was, to just being able to see where the pitch was on a piece of paper.”
It was a jarring change for some hitters in a down year for offense during the pandemic-shortened season. But Major League Baseball has cleared the way for the return of ingame video on dugout iPads beginning on Opening Day, with catcher signals clipped when they are displayed on a computer.
For decades, baseball players retreated to a clubhouse video room to check out their atbats or take a closer look at a reliever entering a game. Then Houston was penalized in January 2020 for an electronic signstealing scheme during the Astros’ run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season. The coronavirus pandemic also led baseball to limit clubhouse access.
The prohibition of ingame video access coincided with a .245 MLB batting average during the shortest regular season since 1878, the lowest since .237 in 1968 and down from .252 in 2019. The average number of home runs per game declined from the record set in 2019.
Aces debut: Shane Bieber’s final start last season was rough. His first one in 2021 wasn’t too much better. The AL Cy Young winner gave up four runs and didn’t make it through his scheduled two innings as Cleveland lost to Kansas City 86 in Goodyear, Ariz.
Bieber led the majors in wins, ERA and strikeouts last year for a rare triple crown during the pandemic while becoming Cleveland’s fifth Cy Young winner since 2007.
Trevor Bauer, pitching for the first time with the Dodgers, threw two scoreless innings in a 100 sixinning win over the Rockies. He gave up one hit, struck out two, walked none and threw a wild pitch. He threw sharp curveballs for his two strikeouts.
“All my pitches are pretty much where I want them to be,” Bauer said.
Seaver to be honored: The Mets will honor the late Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver by wearing a “41” patch on the right sleeves of their home and away jerseys this season. Seaver died Aug. 31 in Calistoga at age 75.