When Major League Baseball introduced technology to the pitcher-catcher communication in an effort to battle sign stealing, it was generally seen as a positive move for the game. But leave it to MLB to not test the system for a postseason-baseball environment.
The system — called PitchCom — allows the catcher to call pitches from his wrist, which then relays the call through an audio feed in the pitcher’s cap. PitchCom was tested in spring training and used throughout the regular season. But clearly, someone didn’t check to see how PitchCom would respond in a significantly louder postseason atmosphere.
Mets pitcher Chris Bassit learned about that the hard way during Sunday’s NL Wild Card Game 3 against the Padres.
Chris Bassitt is having issues hearing PitchCom pic.twitter.com/3jXIR6BavU
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 9, 2022
With the Citi Field crowd on their feet and making noise, Bassit was seen straight-up asking Tomas Nido what pitch to throw. He simply could not hear the PitchCom feed over a playoff-caliber crowd.
Of course, the Mets — and any home playoff team — could communicate to the crowd that they need relative quiet to hear PitchCom. It should be approached in the same way a home football crowd gets quiet while the home team is on offense. Or, you know, MLB could have an in-ear piece for pitchers instead of an audio system in a cap. Otherwise, the system is just about useless for playoff games and actually slows the pace of play.
It shouldn’t be so difficult.
Understandably, MLB fans were not impressed with how PitchCom has handled playoff baseball.
This was how Twitter reacted
Pitchcom in the playoffs doesn’t work at all lmao
— Sloppy 6’5” (@ColeyMick) October 9, 2022
I’m convinced PitchCom has actually slowed the game down
— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) October 9, 2022
They absolutely should have foreseen pitchcom being overwhelmed by crowd noise but also we don't need to act dumb about why teams are using it, especially with guys on second. We all lived through the last few years.
— Cronklyn (@cdgoldstein) October 9, 2022
We should devise a technology to communicate directly to the cerebral cortex. https://t.co/KpN6fbGmFX
— Rion Iwasaki (@RionRion55) October 9, 2022
Idk why they decided to put the speaker in the pitchers hat of all places and not have an in-ear device https://t.co/evwQVcsIRf
— Bay of Puigs (@Bay_of_Puigs) October 9, 2022
Not sure why no one thought of including ear pieces when they created PitchCom. https://t.co/MOLtsiC2PB
— ᶜᴼᴿᴱᵞ (@Coreyiiip) October 9, 2022
They needed to create a louder speaker or even a vibration. https://t.co/ex8IGCz83i
— i believe in Lindor (@JSosaCruz42) October 9, 2022
Pitchcom is so dumb. There’s problems almost every game with it. #LGM https://t.co/MSBUMYJlC4
— K.V. Paxton (@KVPaxton) October 9, 2022
Please fire Pitchcom into the sun and go back to hand signals. #LGM
— I Believe in Nashville (@genethelawyer) October 9, 2022
They really should have seen that one coming.
