I Never Thought I Would Enjoy Learning About PitchCom As Much As I Did Today

I have a tendency to get an unusual amount of excitement from learning about niche things in sports, so when I saw a video explanation of the ins and outs of PitchCom, I was all in.

As you probably know, PitchCom is the way that catchers and pitchers communicate what pitches to throw. Does it take away from the purity of catchers dropping signs with their fingers? Yes. 

But does it also speed the game up and prevent pitchers from having to stare uncomfortably long at another man’s crotch? Also, yes. I’m mostly a baseball purist, but I’m all for this change.

BRONX, NY - SEPTEMBER 22: New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells (88) holds his PitchCom ear piece during a regular season game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees on September 22, 2023 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

We all know that if a catcher presses a button on a controller attached to his knee pad, it tells the pitcher what he should throw next, as well as where to throw it. Pretty straightforward.

But I never really knew what the pitcher was hearing on his end. Was he hearing a series of beeps to indicate the pitch? How do you indicate the location of the speech? What about pitchers who speak Spanish? Are they screwed if they don’t speak English? 

Well, the New York Mets broadcast showed us last night.

All of this is so sick. It’s insane how changing something that’s seemingly such a small part of the game can speed it up so quickly. And don’t worry, if you’re Spanish, there’s a setting for that too.

The only thing I don’t get is how the voice replicates the guy who invented it. There’s no way that John Hankins or Craig Filicetti sound like the guy who narrates the Halo video games. That has to be digitally altered.

But other than that, super cool stuff. My nerd interests have been satisfied.