Marlins turn pitch-calling to dugout staff amid backlash

Marlins call – Miami’s experiment shifts pitch selection away from catchers and toward a data-driven dugout team using PitchCom—lightening mental load for some players, but drawing sharp pushback from others. With the Marlins sitting at 28-34 in the NL East, the club’s early

When the pitch clock begins counting down, the Marlins aren’t waiting for the catcher’s feel. Two men in the dugout—armed with reams of data and hand gestures—send the order to catcher Joe Mack, who then checks a wristband on his left arm and relays the pitch via buttons on his PitchCom device.

Sandy Alcantara. executing the plan from the mound. gets credited for outcomes like striking out James Wood twice and holding the Washington Nationals slugger to an infield single. But Miami’s manager. Clayton McCullough. made clear that the real “road map” is built elsewhere—between the lines and outside the traditional pitcher-catcher exchange.

Since September, the Marlins have been calling pitches from the dugout. The club says the upside is twofold: reducing the mental burden for young catchers and pitchers. and using real-time processing of data from a distance. The change lands in the middle of baseball’s enduring tension—touch and feel versus decision science—and it’s happening while other teams test the concept in smaller ways.

In this PitchCom era, three basic methods coexist. The majority still have the catcher call the pitch and push a button to alert the pitcher. PitchCom also allows pitchers to call their own games by pushing a button on their belt to tell the catcher. And then there are the Marlins, who have moved pitch calling largely away from the catcher.

“It’s a different era, obviously, of baseball. Analytics drives so many decisions,” veteran San Diego Padres right-hander Lucas Giolito said. “But that old-school part of me. man – that pitcher-catcher relationship. that communication before and during a game. reading swings. reading at-bats – I think that’s something players get better at with experience. especially catchers.”.

Giolito added that while it’s possible to call pitches from the dugout, it can feel like an extra step. “For me, it feels like an extra step that’s not really necessary.”

Not everyone is even willing to try the question. Seattle Mariners All-Star catcher Cal Raleigh called dugout calling “stupid.” Others want proof, and with Miami serving as the most visible test case, the debate is being played out on a franchise already under pressure.

The Marlins’ record, by the numbers, has not turned into a breakout story. They are 28-34 and trading fourth and fifth place in the NL East with the Mets with some frequency. It isn’t the steep jump the team may have hoped for after finishing the 2024 season on a 54-32 run.

By September, Miami decided to start calling pitches from the dugout, beginning the practice with its Class AAA Jacksonville club.

Come 2026, Jacksonville pitching coach Rob Marcello is scheduled to be promoted to the big club as assistant pitching coach. This year. Marcello and major league field coordinator Aaron Leanhardt—described as the guy who invented the torpedo bat—are frequently the ones relaying signals. In Miami, the setup isn’t a high-tech blur. It looks more like an analog command center placed inside something resembling a sniper’s nest: signs are flashed in the air to Hicks or Mack. then the PitchCom system carries the decision to the pitcher.

The timing can be quick enough to make it feel procedural rather than personal. The call from the dugout is typically signaled within two to four seconds of the pitch clock countdown beginning. Mack or Hicks push the buttons, and the pitcher delivers.

“It’s a lot different and it’s new to me,” Alcantara said. “I’ve been in the game a long time and all, so it’s different to me, but I just gotta keep trust. Because they are trying to do their best to help the young pitchers and the young catcher.”

Alcantara, the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner who underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of the 2023 campaign, said the approach helps. “I think it’s a great idea for us to get better.”

Miami’s pitching staff is young enough that the change can be framed as a coaching bridge. Max Meyer. for example. is among the pitchers taking a significant step forward this season. and the Marlins have also imported arms from other organizations. including closer Pete Fairbanks and set-up man John King.

King’s role has changed along with the strategy. The team reduced his reliance on his sinker, a pitch he previously threw 70% of the time. Now he throws the sinker 30% of the time, while adding a sweeper.

The results show up in his numbers. More than a third of the way through the season, King has reduced his WHIP from 1.39 entering this season to a career-best 0.72. His hits per nine innings dropped from 10.1 to 3.6.

“All the analytics and data they have – and them being emotionally apart from the game with all those numbers – what they want you to do is have a good mix. ” King said. “Now. I’ve become more unpredictable and I think they do a good job of seeing the hitters’ weakness but also relying on the pitcher’s strengths. and how they want to sequence their strengths together.”.

King also credited the shift with lightening the mental burden. Yes, he and the catchers still do significant homework and pre-game prep, but he said “perhaps not as in-depth as I’ve done in the past,” and that he liked not thinking about as many variables at once.

He contrasted the old-style checklist—where to throw a sinker, where to put an offspeed pitch—against the new model that ties decisions to prepared signals.

The catcher carousel in Miami has its own storyline. Hicks, a Rule 5 pick from the Detroit Tigers who stuck on the big league squad throughout the 2025 season and stayed in the organization, saw his shot come after earning his way onto the roster this spring. McCullough noted that.

Hicks is now producing at the plate even as his pitching duties change. He ranks third in the NL with 46 RBIs, has 12 home runs, and has an .825 OPS while splitting catching duties with rookie Joe Mack.

In a sport where catcher preparation has historically included pitch-calling as a core responsibility, the club’s hope was that reducing catchers’ homework would let them focus on other parts of their game.

Hicks acknowledged the tradeoff. “Yeah, calling a game is fun. Rewarding, after a win,” he said. “So, you’re missing that a little bit. But you can also impact a game a lot of ways as a catcher.”

He said coaches are doing more homework than the catchers do now. “There’s gonna be times you’re not sure why they’re calling something but in the end it’s what’s right. They’ve never called a pitch without a reason behind it.”

Others describe the change as relieving pressure at the cost of autonomy. Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman said the situation can work because “it’s coming straight from the dugout,” so if a pitch fails the responsibility is clearer.

“It’s like, well, you guys told me to throw that slider,” Gausman said. “There’s positives and negatives to both of it. But I never thought I’d see it in the big leagues.”

Marcello, 35, is at the center of the experiment on the staff side. He workshopped pitch-calling as Jacksonville’s pitching coach and was added to the big league staff this year. In Miami’s system. he and Leanhardt build the signals together. sending them to the field with a sense of urgency during games.

After every night ends, Marcello said there is an “analytical grade” delivered postgame. The staff holds meetings two or three times a week with everyone, asking what’s missing, what could be improved, and how to move forward.

For Marcello, preparation doesn’t stop with one decision. He said he aims to be so ready that he knows what the next pitch—and sometimes the next two—should be immediately after signaling one to his catcher.

He also pushed back on the idea that a coach off the field can’t see what matters. “I do think there’s a lot to see from the side,” Marcello said. “Hey, is this guy on time for the fastball, or not? And a lot of it is catchers giving information to me and having that in-game communication.”

He described further conversations after games: “How do we navigate it, make it a smoother road?”

But the most emotional friction in the pitch-calling debate isn’t about technology. It’s about signs, secrecy, and trust.

It’s strange to some observers because it’s happening less than a decade after the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing gambit helped them win a World Series. In Miami’s version of the system, the club publicly passes along signs through the PitchCom era—while also insisting it is protected.

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Chris Bassitt noticed the weakness in the method while playing Miami in April. His team won two of three games at Miami in April. Bassitt said he believes the signals are decipherable.

“You don’t push a button from the dugout. You’re giving signals,” Bassitt said. “Those signals are pretty easily deciphered to tell you, pretty much, what’s exactly coming. Teams that do that? Keep doing it. It helps us.”

Marcello said Miami counters that risk with specific protections. including a privacy screen that he said prevents information from being picked up by camera. “There’s a lot of different sign cards we can put out there,” he said. “In a game. In an inning. If we feel like they might be on to us, I can change things right there without taking a break.”.

He argued that if cameras are present, signals can’t be seen unless someone is directly in front of the screen. “We know teams will try. But it’s how you protect it all.”

Even with the staff insisting on secrecy and the players describing a lighter mental load, the question hanging over Miami is whether dugout pitch-calling is worth the change—or just another baseball experiment that eventually burns out.

On the pitching side, Miami can point to something tangible. Despite the offseason trade of Edward Cabrera. the club’s ERA has dropped from 4.60 to 4.33. which ranks 11th in the NL so far this season. Alcantara is a year further away from elbow surgery. and Meyer’s 2.97 ERA suggests the young arms aren’t standing still.

But for every positive outcome, there’s the counter-move: plenty of pitchers still prefer the old method.

Legions of pitchers call their own games. Bassitt, Washington Nationals left-hander Foster Griffin, and Tampa Bay Rays ace Nick Martinez are among those who do. Griffin said it’s because his eight pitch offerings—and their potential locations—make it more efficient with the pitch clock always looming. Bassitt’s batterymate. Samuel Basallo. agreed with the view that “the guys on the field have a better feel for what’s happening.”.

Martinez. who has a 1.62 ERA for the Rays. said a simple gesture from his catcher can confirm that he selected the right pitch and gave it the right signal. “Sometimes I’m just convicted in a pitch and I’ll call it and (Nick Fortes or Hunter Feduccia) will be catching me and (nod) their head and acknowledge to me. I was on the right page. ” Martinez said. “I beat them to the punch.”.

In Miami, the urgency belongs to the dugout. Marcello and Leanhardt’s process is described as fast and built on weeks of research, dozens of reports, and countless meetings.

McCullough framed the goal as selection accuracy rather than simply removing a duty from catchers. “It provides us the opportunity to get in what we feel is the most appropriate pitch. Selection A. every time. ” he said. “We continue to evaluate, we’re looking at certain metrics and we’ll continue to do that.”.

He said Miami believes the approach remains beneficial and that the club’s information is growing as the experiment continues. “We’re gaining more and more information over time as we do this and still believe it’s what’s best for us. the Marlins. It hasn’t changed why we still feel like it’s beneficial.”.

For now, the league watches. The Marlins keep pushing buttons in the dugout, and pitchers and catchers elsewhere argue about what happens when baseball’s “touch” gets asked to share the steering wheel with numbers.

MLB Marlins PitchCom dugout pitch calling Clayton McCullough Sandy Alcantara Joe Mack Jacob Hicks Rob Marcello Aaron Leanhardt analytics baseball strategy WHIP ERA