Was Twins' starter Chris Paddack tipping pitches vs. Yankees Tuesday night?
When he puts two fingers in the air and does Quiet Coyote, it's gonna be a changeup.
Did the Yankees have a little additional info on Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack on Tuesday night? According to Jomboy's eagle eyes, he picked up on something that differentiated Paddack's offspeed stuff from his fastballs, and noted as much on his series preview podcast.
Regardless of whether or not the Yankees saw it, too, one thing's for sure: they licked their lips at every Paddack pitch like Nikola Jokic when he sees Rudy Gobert in his way.
Behold, a few mid-game videos of Jomboy, from his couch, accurately predicting everything Paddack was about to throw, followed by Gleyber Torres sitting (and mashing) fastball and Giancarlo Stanton letting a changeup travel, then travel a little further 400 feet on a line out to left-center field.
What's the tell? It's very tough to discern. Is it "shake = fastball, no shake = offspeed"? Does it have to do with his setup? Based on one of the Jomboy videos, it's face/glove-related, rather than his whole body doing the sales job. Either way, the Yankees appeared to be whispering, and even their podcasters had the righty's number.
Did Yankees pick up on Chris Paddack's pitches in win over Twins?
Seems like Paddack has some between-start work to do, and if the Twins make it back to Yankee Stadium this postseason, he can expect Randy Dobnak levels of heckling to further break his concentration.
The Yankees lost a road series to Minnesota last season for the first time in forever, and entered this showdown with both teams qualifying as red hot. Luckily, New York was able to pound out 13 hits from sources all the way up and down the lineup, ranging in exit velocity from Stanton's laser to Anthony Volpe's bloop and bunt.
Credit where it's due: the Yankees clearly entered this one with a game plan, executed patiently, and got some timely relief in Carlos Rodón's wake to help nail down another tone-setting victory. This win, perhaps more than most, might just leave the Twins doing some soul-searching, considering the diagnostic work being done from afar on their starter.