The Cubs joined baseball’s latest technical revolution over the weekend, but like several other teams experimenting with the new PitchCom system for catcher’s signs, the Cubs got mixed results.
"It was OK,” said Cubs catcher Willson Contreras after using the system Sunday with starter Justin Steele and reliever Scott Effross during the 4-3 loss to the Pirates.
“They need to make adjustments on it,” he added. “Other than that, we just need to learn how to use it better.”
The electronic system, which debuted in the minors last year, replaces the catcher’s finger system of signals for calling pitches with an electronic wristband that has buttons that relay a voice to a speaker in the pitcher’s cap.
Up to four players at a time on the field are allowed to receive the signals, including middle infielders and the center fielder.
Contreras and some pitchers tested the system outside of games until they took it into a game Sunday.
Contreras said hearing the signal when the crowd gets loud was a problem, and he found that the process tended to rush the pitcher at times.
Veterans Mychal Givens, Chris Martin and David Robertson chose not to use the system over the final four innings of Sunday’s game.
MLB approved PitchCom a few days before the season started, and as many dozen teams have been reported to have tried it in games the first two weeks of the season, including the Yankees, Brewers and electronic-sign-pioneering Astros.
“You need to have like an earpiece,” Contreras suggested, “because when it gets loud, it’s tough to hear.”
Contreras likes the aspect of preventing sign stealing and in theory the idea of improving pace of play.
MLB
But some of the glitches actually slowed the game down in moments, he said.
But he said the Cubs plan to keep trying it out with the pitchers who want to use it and suggested the pace issue could improve the more they use it.
“It’s not bad,” he said.