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- Major League Baseball announced new anti-sign-stealing technology will be allowed for pitchers and catchers.
- MLB informed teams in a memo on Tuesday that the change will be implemented for the 2022 regular season.
- Read more news about Major League Baseball here.
Major League Baseball informed all 30 teams in a memo on Tuesday that for the 2022 regular season the league will be allowing the use of anti-sign-stealing technology for players on the field.
The key word there is “technology.”
This new technology, called PitchCom, will now be made available for pitchers, catchers and up to three of their teammates (to help with the positioning of fielders).
PitchCom, a pad with buttons on the wrist of the gloved hand, was used in a Spring Training game by New York Yankees pitcher Luis Severino and catcher Kyle Higashioka, and they liked it.
Related: Fans Call Out Aaron Judge For Hypocritical Take On Carlos Beltran And The Astros’ Sign-Stealing
“I think it was great,” Severino said, according to ESPN. “I was a little doubtful at the beginning, but when we started using it, it was really good — with a man on second, too. I would definitely like to use it in my first start [of the regular season]. … You know what pitch you’re going to throw right away.”
MLB’s new anti-sign-stealing technology will hopefully speed up the game and limit cheating
College baseball has been using electronic wristbands to call pitches, with all nine players on the field wearing them this season.
“There’s no signs given from the catcher. The game moves along reasonably fast. Well, it moves faster than it has before,” said Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin. “Just think it’s a lot easier … So the the pitcher can really deliver the ball within a 10 or 12-second time period which, shaving time off the college game is certainly I would think a good thing for everyone, especially the consumer.”
MLB pitchers and catchers will not, however, be required to use this new anti-sign-stealing technology, though most probably will.
Many Major League Baseball fans, as usual, aren’t thrilled with this latest change to the game.
Anti sign stealing technology/devices???? Wtf is baseball doing 😂
— 308 Breaks (@cruzerrr308) April 5, 2022
Okay, so now we can focus on who is intercepting the pitchcom signal
— Jakob (@JakobNawroth) April 5, 2022
This is just stupid - sign stealing is part of the chess match involving baseball games.
— Kevin Isern (@KevinIsern) April 5, 2022
If your signs are garbage enough to be stolen WITHOUT TECH, you deserve it. Teams should be heavily fined/punished if caught with tech
The average baseball game is shorter than the average NFL game. When is @espn going to start publishing 26234 articles on how slow football is?
— Michael Tharp (@tharpy) April 5, 2022
Mostly though, they are just having fun mocking and ripping the Houston Astros.
Related: MLB Is Moving Second Base, Fixing A Mistake That’s Been Around For 135 Years
Astros will hack this in the first week.
— Mike Yawn (@cmyawn59) April 5, 2022
Astros are in shambles
— 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧 (@CookedByDevy) April 5, 2022
R.I.P. Astros
— 𝓑𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓼 (@MABurns1119) April 5, 2022
Astros players are like “we’ve been doing this for years”
— Giannis (@GiannisGreek199) April 5, 2022
Sales are through the roof pic.twitter.com/WUlcsxGBpo
— SaanichGAS (@SaanichGAS) April 5, 2022
Shouldn’t they put the tech money into an objective strike zone?
— Wade Wrobel (@WadeWrobel) April 5, 2022
That would be nice, wouldn’t it?