Jomboy Examines Mason Miller’s Glove Cue in Brewers’ Walk-Off Win

“I’m not saying they definitely had his pitches,” Jomboy said in his breakdown of Mason Miller’s outing. “I’m just saying if you want to watch Mason Miller on TV, all you got to do is watch, can I see like up to his knuckles on the back of his hand, that’s a fast ball. Can I not? That’s a slider.”

Milwaukee beat San Diego 4-3 in NLDS Game 2 on October 4, with Jackson Chourio’s two-run single giving the Brewers a 2-0 series lead. Jomboy’s video compares Miller’s scoreless eighth inning with the ninth, when the Padres asked their closer to finish a six-out save.

The fastball and slider

Miller retired Brice Turang, Jake Bauers and William Contreras in order in the eighth. Before returning to the ninth, Jomboy showed an overlay of Miller’s two pitches.

“When you look at the overlay, they are the same pitch for a lot of time and then all of a sudden one falls and one powers through,” he said.

“On the right, you have the four seam fast. You can see his fingers across the four seams. On the left, you have the slider with the thumb on the far side and the other fingers are pulling down on the horseshoe of the seam,” Jomboy said.

The glove cue, and who could see it

Jomboy first examined a social-media comparison of how much wrist was visible inside Miller’s glove. He said that difference was less consistent than a glove movement he had noticed while watching Miller face the Yankees.

“Does the glove kind of touch his arm sleeve? That’s a slider. Does the glove not touch his arm sleeve? That’s a fast ball,” he said.

His explanation included a limit on the television angle: “Now, what I see the batters can’t see, and if a runner on second could see, it’s too late anyway.”

The ninth-inning takes

After Garrett Mitchell grounded out, Christian Yelich walked and stole second during Sal Frelick’s plate appearance. Jomboy considered whether Yelich’s movement could relay pitch information, then said: “I checked it out. I didn’t see anything consistent.”

Frelick also walked. Andrew Vaughn flew out, and Gary Sánchez’s walk loaded the bases with two outs. Chourio fouled off a fastball before taking a 1-2 slider below the zone, a pitch Jomboy singled out at 11:47 in the video.

“This pitch is the most suspect thing of the entire inning. How do you not chase that pitch? That is a perfectly executed slider, especially off the fast ball you just threw. That is unbelievable,” Jomboy said.

He also allowed that Chourio could have recognized the pitch through his reactions or by picking up its spin. Chourio then singled on a 2-2 fastball to score Yelich and Frelick. TSP’s Game 2 recap and preserved updates cover the full scoring sequence.

Jomboy returned to the distinction between his view from home and information a hitter could use: “I am confident that I know while I’m sitting on my couch looking at his hand and his glove. But I don’t think what I know is enough for them to know.”