Reds Relic Report: Jeff Brantley mocks Marlins' absurd pitch calling experiment

A goofy trend has emerged among at least for two Major League teams and it should already be put out to pasture. Both the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins are calling pitches from the dugout.

Rockies pitching coach Alon Leichman and Marlins assistant pitching coach Rob Marcello are using hand signals from the dugout to relay the pitch call to the catcher behind the plate. The catcher then uses Pitch Com to transmit the message to the pitcher on the mound. I thought we were trying to speed the game up, not slow it down.

The Cincinnati Reds experienced this nonsense first hand during their series against the Marlins this week. Marcello was observed several times during the Reds' broadcast giving various hand signals to Miami backstop Agustin Ramirez.

As he's prone to do, Reds color analyst Jeff Brantlety gave his honest opinion of the Marlins' new strategy. Unsurprisingly, the Cowboy is not a fan. Brantley went on a rant during the top of the eighth inning following a Tyler Stephenson home run and spoke about the flaws with such a game plan.

Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley is not a fan of the Marlins' new strategy

Brantley observed that Stephenson didn't commit to the breaking ball thrown by Marlins' starter Janson Junk. "(If) you've got a guy that doesn't commit to a nasty breaking ball on the prior pitch, you can't come back with the same pitch," Brantley said. "But in Janson Junk's defense, he's not calling the pitches, they're coming from that fella over there in the dugout."

After being prodded by his broadcast partner John Sadak, Brantley expanded on his point and gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at what's like being on the mound versus being in the dugout.

"The reasonable expectation is that you're going to hang more pitches when you're tired in the eighth inning, when you're getting toward the end of your pitch count. And you're throwing breaking ball, after breaking ball, after breaking ball to the same hitter over, and over, and over again," Brantley said.

He continued, "That's the difference between sitting in the dugout calling pitches and standing on mound. I see the hitter from the mound hold up and not even move his hands. You can't see that from the dugout, and if you say you do, you're a liar."

Amen, Cowboy! You'll notice that it's the Marlins are Rockies who are trying out this new-fangled idea. Neither organization has best track record of, well, anything. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that those are the two franchises who are putting this new strategy to the test.

With all the technology in today's game, there's obviously some things the pitching coach is going to see from the dugout that the pitcher and catcher are unaware of. To Brantley's point, however, there's plenty of things happening in the field of play that are also relevant.

Can we go back to a time when the players play and the coaches coach? Things seemed to run much smoother back then. Too many nerds are trying to make up for the years of bullying they suffered at the hands of the jocks, and they've weaseled their way into various MLB organizations. Out with the new, and in with the old. In other words, if ain't broke, don't fix it.