Toronto Blue Jays reliever Jay Jackson says he was tipping his slider prior to giving up a now famous home run to New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge on Monday.
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Jackson made the acknowledgement to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic on Tuesday in the midst of a huge controversy.
Television cameras caught Judge glancing sideways during the at-bat, prompting the Blue Jays to wonder what he was looking at. The Blue Jays then raised the issue of Yankees base coaches being outside of the coach’s boxes in a call with Major League Baseball.
“From what I was told, I was kind of tipping the pitch,” Jackson told Rosenthal. “It was (less) my grip when I was coming behind my ear. It was the time it was taking me from my set position, from my glove coming from my head to my hip. On fastballs, I was kind of doing it quicker than on sliders. They were kind of picking up on it.”
Jackson, who was optioned to triple-A Buffalo before Tuesday’s game against the Yankees, said he was informed of what he was doing while working out at Rogers Centre on Tuesday.
“One of the guys told me I might have been tipping my pitches,” Jackson said. “Then the video guy came back later and said, ‘Hey, we might have picked something up on the difference between your slider and fastball. It might have been something those guys were keying off of. Just be conscious of it. You might want to change it up next time.’”
While Jackson told Rosenthal he does not think coaches should be relaying signs, he said he must adjust.
“If I’m giving away pitches, that’s on me,” he said. “I’ve got to fix that and make a better pitch 3-2 in that situation regardless. I left it middle-middle.”
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