Pitch Tipping – Now You Can Cheat Like A-Rod

Pitch Tipping

In Selena Roberts’ new book, A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees third baseman is accused of tipping-off opposing hitters on what pitch will be thrown next, in hopes that they will return the favor for him, and help boost his stats.

Pitch tipping happens in wiffleball too, yet in wiffleball, the person tipping-off the hitter usually doesn’t even know he’s doing it.

Often, the pitcher gives away what pitch is coming next, without ever realizing it. You might even be doing this!

Even though I had a career batting average over .400 in MLW, there were some pitchers that I’d always struggle against. That changed one day, when a teammate gave me a tip that became my biggest wiffleball secret…well, until now. I’ll share.

It’s pretty simple really. All you need to do is watch the pitcher’s grip on the ball. Some pitchers will give it away as soon as they pick up the ball, so you have plenty of time to prepare. Others will spend a few seconds openly positioning their fingers on the ball before they start their windup, so you can easily guess what pitch is coming next.

If you’re a fastball hitter, and you can tell by the pitcher’s grip that he’s going to throw a curve ball, just take the pitch, and wait for the next one. Or try to pound it. It’s up to you. Unless you make an effort to hide your grip, this is all surprisingly easy to see. Since nobody wears a glove in wiffleball, the ball, and the grip, are almost always visible.

Now some pitchers are so good, this tip may not help much, but it might help you go 2-for-10 instead of 0-for-10 against them.

If you’re changing teams from game-to-game based on player rankings, like we suggest, you might want to keep this tip to yourself, since it could hurt your team in the playoffs, when teams stay fixed. A player that’s your teammate today might be your opponent next time. The regular season is all about building stats, so keeping this to yourself will help you, and only you. In the playoffs, when it’s about winning games, feel free to share this tip with your teammates.

I noticed a huge improvement from just studying the pitcher’s hand before he threw the ball. It gives you an advantage, and extra confidence at the plate. So although you’re benefiting from pitch tipping, you’re not cheating, or ruining the integrity of the game like Alex Rodriguez allegedly did. You’re playing smart, and by the rules.

Fact: Alex Rodriguez attended high school with Doug Mientkiewicz, who has posed with a wiffleball for our site. The two played high school baseball and football together.

In her book, Selena Roberts claims A-Rod is a lousy tipper at restaurants. It makes me wonder if he was a lousy pitch tipper too.