Ex-Royals pitcher details how deciphering opponent signs helped him in college
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Right-hander Brian Bannister pitched four seasons for the Royals (2007-10), finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting his first year in Kansas City.
Bannister’s career numbers with the Royals aren’t noteworthy, as he had a 35-49 record with a 5.13 ERA. But if you remember those Royals teams, he was one of the better starters on the staff.
That Bannister even made it to the big leagues is a feat unto itself. Bannister recounted his tryout with Southern California in 2010, and how he thought his dream of playing college baseball might end before it started.
It’s part of a lengthy Twitter thread in which he shared making the Trojans’ travel squad not because of his physical talent, but his ability to decipher sign sequences given to opposing pitchers.
That’s a useful thing for a team to have, right?
That allowed him to land a last spot on the 25-man travel squad, get to the College World Series and eventually make enough on an impact on the field to get drafted.
This is an entertaining story from Bannister.
I went to USC on an art scholarship - secretly hoping to keep my baseball career alive but prepared to move on if it didn't work out.
I was a 5'9" 175lb 2nd basemen lacking in tools.
To be honest, I was lacking in almost everything necessary to be a Division I baseball player.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
On tryout day in the Fall, I sat on the metal bench in the dugout at Dedeaux Field in Los Angeles alongside another nice young man.
— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
I wished him good luck as his name was called to try out first.
He had a decent swing, took an overall ok round of batting practice, but when it came time for him to run to first base I was blown away.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
I was up next to hit and took my typical line drive opposite field approach.
I made consistent barrel contact but it was nothing special.
My round ended and Coach Savage asked me if I could also try out as a pitcher.
I had nothing to lose.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
My tryout ended and I sat back down in the dugout awaiting the final verdict.
There aren't many moments in your life where something literally can be extinguished, but at that moment my baseball career was running out of oxygen.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
You topped out at 85. Your average was 82.
Yikes.
But I had been given a chance, and like the Black Knight in Monty Python my career wasn't dead yet.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
Future #2 overall pick Mark Prior had just transferred in from Vanderbilt.
There were preseason All-Americans, top national recruits, and upperclassmen from the 1998 National Championship team.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
Plane flights. Meal money. Hotel rooms. Swag.
The travel roster were the cool kids on campus.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
In Willy Wonka-like fashion, our head coach Mike Gillespie ("Skip") surprisingly announced that he would award the 25th travel roster spot to whoever added the most value during the January pre-season baseball schedule at his discretion.
I had an outlier shot.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
I had practiced my craft ruthlessly in high school.
If you were sloppy or lazy (or just not sophisticated enough) in relaying your signs to the catcher I was going to figure it out.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
First inning, I quickly locked in on the opposing pitching coach and started running through the standard patterns.
Indicator. Check.
Pitch Type. Check.
Location. Check.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
Our system was simple to relay to hitters.
First Name: Fastball
Last Name: Offspeed— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
While the rest of the world could care less, I was in full battle mode wondering if I could execute again in Pre-season Game 2.
A lot was at stake.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
Skip approached me afterwards.
"Can you do that reliably for the rest of the year?"
"Yes Sir," I replied.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
For the rest of the year, I broke down sign sequences relentlessly.
I actually got to pitch an occasional mop-up inning, but I viewed my true purpose as a codebreaker.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
Their team was led by future #5 overall pick Mark Teixeira.
They had scored 51 runs in their own regional.
We were very nervous.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
I was sweating. I was failing on my biggest stage yet.
Everyone was asking if I had anything.
I racked my brain but nothing was working.
No consistent indicator. No patterns. No solutions.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
I never actually solved the sign sequence, but every time it finished to one side of the face instead of the middle it meant there was a location involved.
And location was only being given on fastballs.
We had the signs!— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
Game 2 arrived and I was ready on my bucket.
"Please be the same sequence as yesterday" I kept whispering to myself.
The sequence was the same!
We scored 6 runs, Mark Prior pitched 8 strong innings, and we were headed to Omaha!— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
I entered the side tunnel of Rosenblatt Stadium to more than 20,000 LSU fans relentlessly chanting "TIGER BAIT! TIGER BAIT!"
This was intense.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
I was the unofficial mop-up guy, but I nervously reassured myself "They'll never put me in. This is on ESPN."
I was dead wrong.
Skip walked over to me a few minutes later and told me I had the 9th.
Oh Crap. I had thrown 9 innings total in my career.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
Miraculously, through some now forgotten combination of piss missiles hit right at our fielders and a popup, I threw a scoreless 9th inning.
"Did that really just happen?" I thought to myself as I walked off the field.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
If your dreams are currently blocked, there is always an alternative path if you are willing to look for it and be prepared.
The game within the game.
The metagame.— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
Oh, and that nice young man I sat next to way back on tryout day?
He went on to make some pretty sweet hair commercials: pic.twitter.com/asRG7ozGUU— Brian Bannister (@RealBanny) January 11, 2022
