So you think sign stealing doesn’t go on anymore in baseball? With the advent of PitchCom, the device that allows catchers to call pitches over a digital device rather than the old-school system of putting down a few fingers, the art of stealing signs seemed to have gone the way of scheduled doubleheaders. Not completely though.

On Wednesday night, the IronPigs were hosting the Rochester Red Wings, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. The Red Wings led 3-0 going to the bottom of the fifth and Lehigh Valley’s Erick Brito lined the first pitch he saw from Adrian Sampson off the fence in left field for a double. Sampson got the next two hitters and Brito was still at second base with Justin Crawford at the plate. Sampson had constantly been keeping an eye on Brito at second even though the odds of him stealing a base in that situation were extremely low.

What Sampson was apparently keeping an eye on was Brito’s body language. Obviously, he couldn’t be tipping pitches to the batters because of PitchCom, but he was still able to tip the location of the pitch depending on where catcher Drew Millas was putting his glove. With a dangerous hitter like Crawford at the plate, Sampson wasn’t going to take any chances on giving him an advantage. With that in mind, Sampson went into his set position, stood there for a moment and without blatantly just opened his hand and let the ball fall to the ground all while looking straight back at Brito. Obviously, the umps immediately called a balk and sent Brito to third. The unconventional maneuver allowed Sampson to let Brito know that he was wise to what he was doing. Even though it moved Brito up a base, in a 3-0 game, it really didn’t matter.

For many of us who love baseball, the PitchCom is an annoyance. How many times do you see a timeout because the device either isn’t working or the pitcher can’t hear what is being called? Plus, the device, along with other changes to the game, have cut out some of the things that helped to make baseball what it is. Sign stealing was an art and it was policed by the pitchers. Do that with Bob Gibson or Steve Carlton on the mound and your next at-bat would feature a fastball up and in. You got the message that you had been caught and it would probably not be a good idea to continue the practice.

Who remembers the great managers who put on a show with great umpire arguments? Bobby Valentine returning to the dugout in a not so great disguise after being ejected.

When Major League Baseball adopts the “robo-umps”, which will likely come next season, another element of the game will be changed. Pitchers, catchers, and batters will no longer be able to offer any disbelief on balls and strikes. The human element of home plate umpires calling balls and strikes will be taken away from the game. Of course, it may be somewhat limited if baseball goes with the “challenge” system that limits how many times a team can question the calls.

As far as the “robo-umps” are concerned, do not be amazed if baseball skips the challenge version and goes directly to having the system make all of the calls. Umpires are not fans of the challenge system because it leaves them looking bad when a call is overturned. They would rather have the system simply make the calls.

It was refreshing to see a player still trying to bring back some of the old-school baseball skills and a pitcher find a way to do his best to thwart him. It would have been interesting to see Brito step into the box against Sampson, but that never happened.