PitchCom is coming to ACC Baseball and ACC Softball this spring, which, good news: this should speed games up a good bit going forward.
“The ACC is thrilled to partner with PitchCom as the league continues to invest in modern and innovative solutions that enhance both the student-athlete and competitive experience,” said Jessica Rippey, the senior vice president of Olympic sports at the ACC.
“Olympic sports,” as if baseball and softball are big parts of the Olympic movement.
I get it, that they don’t want to call them what they are – sports that lose money hand over fist.
Even so.
The PitchCom system coming to an ACC ballpark near you includes a transmitter remote, an audio receiver and a visual receiver.
The remote is programmable for coach-to-player communication, directly through the audio and visual receivers.
The audio receiver is worn inside the cap; the visual receiver is worn on the wrist.
You’ve seen it in MLB the past few years.
The advantage: no more looping through signals between pitching coach, catcher and pitcher.
The holdup: every so often, it doesn’t work, and they have to send a batboy out with a replacement.
“A single standard for on-field electronic communication is essential for integrity and fair competition. We’re proud the ACC selected PitchCom as its partner for the next four years,” said John Hankins, co-owner of PitchCom.
That’s going a bit far there.
Sign-stealing has been part of the game since forever.
This is all about pace of game.
Next: we need to work on the human rain delays that result from coaches not getting their bullpens hot soon enough ahead of needing to make a pitching change.