I watch a ton of Major League Baseball. But in all that time I had never seen or heard how PitchCom worked. This article exists to explain PitchCom as if you were 5 years old.
Why does MLB use PitchCom?
PitchCom was implemented to speed up play. And to prevent sign stealing – thank you TRASHSTROS 👉🏻🗑️!
No word on whether they adapt to banging on trash cans.
PitchCom – The Basics
Catchers (such as Salvador Perez) wear wristbands and keypads just above their wrists or knees. There are 9 buttons to call pitch and position.
Pitchers have receivers/speakers that fit inside their caps, just above their ears.
The catcher presses the button corresponding to the pitch he wants. Once the pitcher (let’s say Zack Greinke) hears the transmission, he nods or nods his head to indicate “yes” or “no.”
PitchCom allows over 700 different pitch combinations and positions. In addition to standard pitches (fastball, curve, slider, etc.) and positions (inside, outside, high, low), MLB teams can customize their signals.
For example, if you’re playing a no-good, lying, yellow-belly, four-flush, low-life, snake-licking MLB team in Houston whose name rhymes with “Trashstros,” you could change the fastball to “Your Mom.”
Or the curveball to “Altuve Killed Epstein” is entirely up to the team.
It also uses a direct wireless connection rather than Wi-Fi or mobile data. Because it is not safe. It’s funny to think that the more technology advances, the more we rely on old technology. Anyone’s voice can be recorded.
PitchCom can be programmed to speak any language and is fully customizable. I’m curious how to say ‘high and solid’ in Swahili.
Up to three different defensive players can wear the PitchCom receiver at the same time. A total of 5 players are available. Batter and runners are not permitted to wear PitchCom.
What does PitchCom sound like?
A dystopian nightmare. Just kidding.
Voices are fully customizable. So I’d like my pitch option to be the voice of Little Richard in “Good Golly Miss Molly”.
Get a good “hear”.
Should MLB Teams Use PitchCom?
“Use of the PitchCom device is optional for clubs and completely voluntary for players,” MLB said in a 2023 memo to teams. “One club’s decision not to use the PitchCom device should not prevent the other club from using the PitchCom device.”
MLB provides each team with at least three transmitters, 12 receivers and two charging cases.
A team cannot have more than three transmitters or more than 12 receivers at any time. (Looking at you, Jose Altuve is SCUM.)
Is PitchCom the death knell of Old School MLB?
if. Strike zones have been set in stone for TV audiences for more than a decade, and it looks like they will be in the next year or two as MLB makes successful changes such as bigger bases, pitch clocks, and robot umpires.
No matter what “improvements” are made to “secure” the game, with a multi-billion dollar industry, 32 teams, and thousands of employees constantly trying to find an advantage they can exploit, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes like the Infinite Monkey Theorem.
Change is needed to keep the product fresh, interesting and fair. Unless the Houston Astros and MLB allow them to steal multiple World Series wins by blatantly cheating.
But overall, the changes MLB has recently implemented have made games more enjoyable to watch (as reflected in recent TV ratings), and we hope this continues.
