Who's pushing the pitch buttons for Tigers?

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The sight of Eduardo Rodriguez reaching to his left hip to press buttons was a new one as the Tigers left-hander worked through his Spring Training start Friday against the Phillies in Clearwater.

A veteran, Rodriguez had an idea of what he wanted to work on for his next-to-last start before the World Baseball Classic and used the latest PitchCom system -- which includes a keypad for the pitcher-- to essentially call his own pitches.

He was far from the first pitcher to do that this spring, but he was the first Tigers pitcher to try it out to that extent. From his comments following three scoreless innings with three strikeouts, he clearly liked it.

“I'm calling my own pitches, and if [the catcher] doesn't like the pitch that I'm going to throw, he'll just call me back,” Rodriguez said. “But it feels more comfortable for me to call the pitch that I want to throw, because I have so much confidence in it. But if the catcher sees something, he can just tell me right away.

“I feel like those pitches are the ones I feel really good about that day warming up. I feel like I'm the one who knows myself more than anybody, and if some pitches aren't working the right way that day, and the catcher's calling it … you're not going to throw it with the same confidence. That's what I feel is going to make me better, because I'm going to call the pitch that I really feel comfortable with.”

A day later, manager A.J. Hinch met with pitchers and catchers and emphasized the importance of everybody working together on a game plan to attack opposing hitters.

“It's going to be important that we are always collaborative with how we call games,” Hinch said. “It's not the catcher's game to call. It's not the pitcher's game to call. We should've had this meeting a week ago to talk about it.

“Every pitcher in that room has thrown a pitch that they weren't convicted in but the catcher believed in, and it's been the right pitch. Conversely, every catcher in there has had a pitch call that's been questioned and then they go to something different and the pitcher executes it and it all goes well.”

The pitcher-catcher relationship has always been an interesting dynamic and an underrated key in any game. With pace of play and technology taking on larger roles, it’s even more important. The ability for a pitcher to input pitch selections without having to cycle through signs from a catcher adds a new wrinkle.

“We have a lot of people that aren't a pitcher or a catcher that weigh in on a game plan,” Hinch said. “Relating anything in Spring Training in that regard to the regular season is just not accurate. You would never pitch the same way in the spring in your first or second outing. There's a reason NFL quarterbacks don't call all their own plays. There's a reason why the NBA doesn't just hand it over to the players and their system offense. It's because these game plans are super complex.”

It'll be an interesting dynamic to follow as Spring Training rolls on, and into the regular season if the setup continues. But like a lot of relationships in baseball, it’ll likely hinge a lot on whether the team is winning, and whether a starter is pitching well.