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Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle dropped a bombshell on college baseball followers this week during a weekly radio show. The coach claims that an SEC rival was caught using an illegal live feed to steal signs.
He wouldn’t reveal the team by name, though he did give enough information for folks to narrow the potential candidate pool down. It’s the second potential cheating scandal that’s involved the Aggies this week.
The accusation came during an appearance on TexAgs Radio while the coach discussed the use of technology and sign stealing practices.
“MLB has its own portal system that each team is bought into. Each team gets the same exact stuff, but they cannot – there’s a way for them to block a live feed to the dugout. Well, that costs money. It costs a ridiculous amount of money. College baseball doesn’t have that kind of money, even in the SEC.
“So where do you draw the line? I mean, there are ways we could wire our dugout to get the live feed. And there’s a school in our league that got busted – I don’t know if people know it yet. I’m not going to reveal it, but they know. They’ve had a live feed going to the dugout all year. And they’re hitting .306 at home and .206 on the road. I don’t know. So, to me, that would be the line. Somehow, the technological line, keeping live information from going directly to the dugout.”
-Jim Schlossnagle
The NCAA doesn’t allow teams to use that type of technology in-game, yet Schlossnagle claims that the SEC has already busted a league member this year.
He also says that the accused rival is batting .100 points higher at home than they are on the road.
Looking at season stats, the field can be slimmed down to a handful of potential rule breakers.
Batting average splits – Home/Away
Arkansas – .299/.211 (.088)
Georgia – .332/.251 (.081)
Mississippi St – .310/.233 (.077)
Vanderbilt – .306/.233 (.073)
Missouri – .279/.219 (.060)
Florida – .300/.242 (.058)
Ole Miss – .286/.230 (.056)
Texas A&M – .330/.292 (.038)
Auburn – .277/.242 (.035)
Tennessee – .340/.304 (.034)
Kentucky – .314/.286 (.028)
Alabama – .321/.298 (.023)
South Carolina – .278/.256 (.022)
LSU – .286/.267 (.019)
Do with that research what you will. The head coach wasn’t going to name names!
Jim Schlossnagle also suspects Georgia cheated in its baseball series against Texas A&M.
Bulldog reliever Christian Mracna became the focus of the college baseball world over the weekend thanks to a video that appeared to show him putting a foreign substance on his glove.
That substance would’ve been used to increase spin rate and control on the mound (again, just speculation at this point).
Schlossnagle weighed in on the video after the series.
“Certainly appears that way,” Schlossnagle said in a text to The Associated Press on Tuesday. “It’s part of the game… wish we would’ve caught it.”
Mracna struck out six batters in two innings of work on Saturday to preserve a one-run win for the Bulldogs. Video from prior series show similar activity from the pitcher.
It will be interesting to see if the SEC checks into the righty during his next appearance.
Assuming UGA wasn’t the team noted in Schlossnagle’s sign stealing claim, that’s two SEC schools that he suggests have been cheating this year!