Mets Star Caught Tipping Pitches Toward End of Braves Win

The Atlanta Braves pulled out a win at Citi Field on Saturday. However, the New York Mets were able to put up a bit of a fight at the end due to what could be seen as a frustrating strategy for the opponent.

After Juan Soto's home run was overturned, he was placed on second base. He took some advantage of his placement to the chagrin of the Braves. He was spotted picking up the pitches of closer Raisel Iglesias. He likely saw how Iglesias was changing his grip ahead of delivering the pitch.

He was doing some hops that could be a way to relay a pitch to the hitter, Marcus Semien.

"It looks like he got them and hopped at [second base] to relay to the hitter a [changeup] was coming," BravesVision analyst CJ Nitkowski said on his X, formerly Twitter, page with a video included. "Semien did not swing at some good [changeups because] of that and walked as the potential tying run."

After Soto's double in the 9th inning he worked to get Iggy's pitch grips from 2B, trying to distinguish between CH vs FB. It looks like he got them and hopped at 2B to relay to the hitter a CH was coming. Semien did not swing at some good CHs b/c of that and walked as the… pic.twitter.com/kSTJbkt3JI
— CJ (@CJNitkowski) June 14, 2026

In the end, the Braves were able to work around this strategy to squash a potential ninth-inning rally. However, the Mets were able to force them to sweat it out.

"[Iglesias] either adjusted, Soto got it wrong or Alvarez got caught in between. Either way, it didn't cost the Braves, but it got too close," he added.

In case anyone is ready to go crazy about stealing signs, this is legal. If a pitcher accidentally tips hitters and baserunners off, they can take advantage of it. Nitkowski emphasized in the replies that this was all about pitch grips and not signs. Manager Walt Weiss went to the lengths to point out that nothing was foul after the game.

He said he didn't know for sure if Soto actually knew what pitch Iglesias was throwing. In the end, he could have been faking them out to fluster them. But in the end, it falls on the Braves at that point to make sure these things don't get

"Yeah, I mean everybody's doing that. They either have them, or they're acting like they have the pitches," he said. "Look, it's our job to cover that stuff up. It's fair game when you're getting pitches in real time. It's our job to make sure that stuff doesn't happen."

The Braves won the game 3-1 to knot up the series. The rubber match will be played Sunday afternoon at Citi Field at 1:40 p.m. EDT.

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