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Pitchcom was introduced to the MLB in the early 2022 season, and the communication system has quickly become prominent in the baseball world and underwent pitcher-catcher communication.
Perfect Game, a youth baseball company that promotes baseball by hosting high -quality amateur events and giving exposure to players to play at higher levels, is the first organization of its kind collaborating with pitchcom, Pakinomist Digital Exclusivlly learned Thursday.
Pitchcom emerged after Houston Astros undergoing scandal during their World Series race in 2017 shook the baseball world.
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Pitchcom devices on a field with the perfect gaming logo. (Courtesy of pitchcom)
John Hankins, co -investor and co -owner of Pitchcom, so that MLB needed a need for a communication device that could prevent sign -raising. The challenge was that the device could not be vocal, and MLB officials did not want players to carry a communication device on their bodies.
Hankins came with pitchcom, which allows a catcher to press a button on a transmitter to call seats. The transmitter sends pre -recorded audio clips to the recipients, who in turn will hear the pitch call and defensive signals.
Pitcher and Fielders carry the recipient in their hats and can hear what catcher inputs, which allows for clear and safe communication that is safe from being stolen, as opposed to traditional catcher characters.
When Major League Baseball first heard about it, it loved the idea.
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“(We had) a meeting before an endgame. The immediate answer was that this solves all our problems,” Hankins told Pakinomist Digital.
“It was nice and we left the meeting and felt pretty good. But within about an hour we got another phone call that said, ‘Can you meet with 20 of our leaders on zoom tomorrow. It was a positive sign.”
After this meeting, the Major League Baseball became pitchcom’s first client.
Jered Goodwin, Vice President of Scout Operations at Perfect Game, coach with MLB players during the off -season. Goodwin told Pakinomist Digital that the players had “a ton of positive feedback” about pitchcom.
San Francisco Giants -Catcher Blake Sabol (2) adjusts his pitchcom unit during the eighth round against Milwaukee Brewers in Oracle Park 7 May 2023. (Darren Yamashita/USA Today Sports)
“I can tell you from a guy who gets coaching some pitchers during the high season they love to be on equal terms,” Goodwin said.
“They throw a pitch without anyone on the field being able to know what’s coming (before pitchcom) and there have been open conversations about it. There has not been very negative feedback. You get some transmitters you have to replace, but it takes a really short time. And I really think everyone in baseball, players to owners and especially fans, have loved the pace of the game.”
“Obviously, some other rules were also implemented, but the direct communication in the short time it takes has certainly been plenty of positive feedback.”
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Goodwin said he first thought of trying to bring pitchcom to perfect play when MLB started using it. He called it an “easy decision” to bring pitchcom into youth baseball and to form a partnership.
“I knew very early on that this would be something to stay, so when it has grown to larger college -baseball, to MLB, it’s nice that we got a direct path for our players and our coach to be able to learn operational, intensely during a game. Something like what they need directly at the next level.
Jon Updike, Vice President of Customer Relationships at Pitchcom, said the device gives youth players benefits in addition to only pitcher-catcher communication.
San Francisco Giants Pitcher Spencer Bive’s (76) holds his glove to his ear to hear his pitchcom against St. Louis Cardinals during the ninth round at Oracle Park 28 September 2024. (Robert Edwards/Imag photos)
“It just doesn’t call the seats,” said Upmide. “It’s the ability to send maybe technical signals, but even more than that, ‘Hello, good job’ or ‘you’re going to pick them up next time.’
“You are able to send some psychological messages to them too that will help either lift them or flip them in place, which is much easier when whispered to an 8-year-old or a 12-year-old or 14-year-old ear than being shouted over the field.”
Goodwin said that the introduction of pitchcom in perfect play allows for more development among children.
“Being able to talk through, especially with direct communication, be able to talk directly about why you called a pitch, how you called a pitch, could go over what these different reasons were because you just have an extra second to do it. When you can speed up the game, but also slow down the process, a real development of ‘why?’ Can happen, “Goodwin said.
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“I think you will see that some things come directly related to pitchcom that helps with development. Whether it’s pitch, whether it’s the speed of the game, whether it’s (is (is) really will help the youth be able to understand how they try to attack, why they try to attack, why this situation or the pitch in this situation is a i.
“But on perfect play, we are constantly trying to find different ways to develop, and I think this will be a real asset to young ball games.”
Goodwin doesn’t just believe that pitchcom will help players’ development. It must also change the way coaches teach and communicate in play.
“It speeds up time, but it also slows down what’s going on. Confirm some of the things that you may have gone into practice. So I think it’s such a great advantage when these young athletes will be able to have that sense of pace, but also a sense of communication and development at a younger age,” Goodwin said.
Baltimore Orioles Catcher James McCann adjusts his pitchcom system during the first lap of a game against Cleveland Guardians at Oriole Park on Camden Yards 29 May 2023. (Tommy Gilligan/USA Today Sports)
Updike said the introduction of pitchcom at the youth baseball level will create cleaner games due to the improved communication that the device allows.
“I see that it has an opportunity to reduce seats that will directly have a chance to reduce over use and damage,” said Updike. “Just from having better information or paying attention to it. And then, on top of that, it makes it a cleaner baseball game. Less wild seats, less crosses and more quality-executed seats.”
The voice that comes through the transmitter is an AI-generated voice, but Updike said the voice may be “someone’s voice.”
“It’s a simple, light, pure process. And then what we found is that some of our colleges and some of our great league clubs would run the tracks through an AI voice generator to create something else. Whether it was a star or a famous voice and then put it on, sometimes even record other players, it’s a bit like your limitation is your imagination with it,” said.
Updike said he heard a jug in college baseball adapting the voice to be his favorite musician.
“I don’t want to give up the secret sauce for a couple of clubs, but as if we have a college, a really good NCAA team, their Friday night guy is a really good pitcher and he has a musician he loves, or a rapper, and it’s that the rappers’ voice every time they call a pitch. So it’s unique to see how creative everyone has been with the product.”
Goodwin said he heard a story about how a coach programmed the voice to be a player’s mother’s voice and that it gave good results to the player.
Baltimore Orioles Catcher Adley Rutskman covers a pitchcom device during the first lap against the Los Angeles Angels at Oriole Park in Camden Yards 17 May 2023. (Tommy Gilligan/USA Today Sports)
“The guy had a really close relationship with his mother, and the coaches would see if it would be a soothing presence again. So I thought it was pretty cool, pretty interesting. Obviously, a lot going on with sports psychology now and things like that. So I think there are a lot of things you can do here, even from voice recognition to maybe help kids and maybe not,” said Goodwin.
“I know the child in the early stages of this did very well when it happened.”
The pitchcoms will be awarded to Perfect Game in August, and coaches and players will be able to use them for the Allamerican classic and PG-selected festivals.
