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.