It may not be long before Willson Contreras and Yan Gomes use a different method to give signals to Cubs pitchers in-game.
That new method? PitchCom — a device for catchers to transmit signs to pitchers electronically.
“I think we're getting close. We've been testing it,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said.
Lauded for improving pace of play and helping curtail sign stealing, PitchCom is an alternate option for catchers to call pitches during games. MLB approved its use leading up to Opening Day.
Catchers wear the device, which resembles a remote control, on an arm sleeve. It has nine buttons for calling the desired pitch and its location. Pitchers wear a receiver in their hat to get the call, which is verbally delivered and can be received in multiple languages.
The Giants, Angels, Yankees, Astros, Royals, Guardians, Diamondbacks and Mets are among the teams using PitchCom already.
The Cubs didn’t want to rush the process during this year’s abbreviated spring training post-lockout. They signed close to a dozen new pitchers and only had roughly three weeks to prepare for the season.
MLB
“But we've been continuing to mess around with it, throw with it in bullpens,” Hottovy said. “I think you're going to see it soon, once we get comfortable with how it operates.”
That includes getting the pitches and locations they want on the device, and the terminology on it as well. Teams can use code words rather than a pitch name, for example.
The Cubs aren’t requiring everybody to use PitchCom. Some players have found it useful, Hottovy said, while others aren’t interested in it right now. Plus, with the shortened spring training, every pitcher hasn’t had a chance to use it yet.
But Hottovy said he thinks the team will get to a point where more and more people are comfortable with the device, at the least.
“Worst-case scenario, you try and use it, and you can always go back to the fingers,” Hottovy said. “It’s not like you're stuck and don't have a secondary plan.”
Contreras and Gomes both expressed an openness to the device, though Contreras said he thinks it needs some adjustments.
“For pitchers, from what I’m seeing so far, they need an earpiece so they can hear the command better,” Contreras said.
That was a problem for Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman this week, when the crowd in Baltimore got loud and gave him trouble hearing the pitch calls in an extra-inning loss.
In that case, there’s always the option to give signs the traditional way, however.
“If you can’t hear it, just say ‘Hey, I can't hear it,’ and then you go back to signs,” Cubs reliever Ethan Robert said. “So it's not a big, crazy thing.”
Roberts said he hasn’t personally tested the device yet but has been around teammates who have, and the volume has been the only issue they have pointed out.
And while he said it personally wouldn’t be a big adjustment for him receiving pitch calls in a new way, Roberts plans to stick with the “same old, same old.”
The benefits of PitchCom are clear. Teams can get their signs quicker, and once the bugs and kinks are worked out, PitchCom could help address one of MLB’s biggest problems: pace of play.
“You could throw a pitch, Willy could throw the ball back to you and you could be getting the pitch in your head before he even gets down in the squat again,” Hottovy said. “So I think that communication level guys really like.”
And most importantly, teams can be much more covert in giving signs.
"For us, we're just getting guys comfortable using it and then seeing how we can implement it in the game," Hottovy said.