Cinema tells us that when a batter steps into the box and the catcher proceeds to tell him which pitch is coming, the catcher may be doing this for one of many reasons. It might have nothing to do with the batter; the catcher could be teaching his hotshot flamethrower not to shake off his elders. It might have everything to do with the batter; perhaps he is Michael Jordan. Some pitches are so good they can be fired past anyone, even a slugger who knows what's on the way.
A new report from ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel says none of these can explain a recent game between the Lakeland Flying Tigers and the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, Low-A affiliates of the Tigers and Twins. In the second game of a Sept. 6 doubleheader, one the Mighty Mussels needed to win to stay in the Florida State League playoff race, Flying Tigers batters were puzzled to hear 21-year-old Mussels catcher Derek Bender telling them which pitches starter Ross Dunn was about to throw.
The Twins drafted Bender out of Coastal Carolina in the sixth round of the MLB draft this past July, and he was assigned to the Mussels in early August. These were not savvy veteran catcher antics, Passan and McDaniel say. Nor was he at the mercy of some degenerate FSL gambling ring. He may have just wanted to go home:
Bender's willingness to tip pitches surprised Lakeland players, and there were no indications of wrongdoing from the Flying Tigers, sources said. Bender had told teammates he wanted the season to be over, according to sources.
If Bender was in fact trying to end his season, the strategy worked. The Flying Tigers tagged Dunn for four runs on five hits early, and the starter didn't make it through the second inning. Though Bender did work two six-pitch at-bats when he was at the plate, he may have seen the writing on the wall: The Mighty Mussels held a six-game lead in their division two weeks earlier, but had lost six straight entering this game against a hot Lakeland team. (The late-summer Florida State League schedule features so many rain suspensions and postponements that I had to count a few times to make sure I had that number right. I understand Bender's thinking a bit more now.) Bender ended more than just his season: After the Flying Tigers had secured their 6-0 victory to sweep the doubleheader, Lakeland coaches let the Fort Myers coaches know about Bender's tipping. The Twins released him from the team. Per Passan and McDaniel, he will keep his $297,500 signing bonus.
