New for the 2022 college baseball season, teams are allowed to utilize one-way electronic communication to signal pitches. We saw that in action this weekend with college baseball powerhouse Vanderbilt using electronic wristbands that showed a pitch call entered in from the dugout.
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🤢 I don’t like the wrist bands/Fanny pack things either.
I like the earpiece method, it speeds up the game and it eliminates the catcher staring at the coach and deciphering the signs. Not sure how I feel about the wristband...
My son’s high school junior year team had twelve kids go on to play college ball at some level. The coach thought it was a good idea to get them accustomed to signals the way college teams do it. They started wearing wristbands. They missed twice as many signs.
With so many signs being missed my son decided he had a green light on the bases. Sorry coach. I must have screwed up reading the wristband.
Earpieces sound good - but, you might then miss things players are saying to each other, or what the umpire says? How important is hearing on the field? I never thought about it.
or you could outlaw all types of signs they include a foreign item (list, buzzed, earpiece) and force players and coaches to actually communicate with hands and eyes...like they have for the last 150 years. it isn't that hard!
@old_school posted:or you could outlaw all types of signs they include a foreign item (list, buzzed, earpiece) and force players and coaches to actually communicate with hands and eyes...like they have for the last 150 years. it isn't that hard!
Loop-hole: Use items that are made in the USA. 😉
Thanks for sharing RJM.
Technology can be a great tool until it isn't. What will Vandy and others do when the system doesn't work (for whatever reason)....in a game? First rule of technology is there has to be a backup system. Will a team have to forego their electronic wristbands if the other teams wristbands aren't working?
The NCAA really needs to think through on this one. I'm not opposed to the idea, but the implementation has to be well thought out. Pandora's technology box is being opened slightly in the college game. What's next, electronic umpires? 
As old-school points out the system of fingers, hands, eyes was effective for 150 years in baseball. Possibly the Houston Astros brought this recent issue to the forefront with the need to encrypt communication from the dugout to the field. I'll sleep better at night knowing my college baseball team has the potential to encrypt data just like banks, Federal govt and the military.
As always, JMO.
I am pretty sure, not 100%, that the SEC and ACC have been testing out earpieces and watches for 3 seasons, only this season its now allowed for everyone.
I believe the earpiece has been around since 2018, it was one ear and only for the catcher. The whole point was to speed up the game by eliminating the complex signage from the dugout to the catcher. Everyone having a watch with the current pitch, play or take/bunt seems like it would take something away from the game.
Going to be funny when some team hacks into the wristband and steals every sign.
Last night we were playing a team and I noticed the pitcher kept rubbing his fingers behind the pitch calling wristband that was attached to his belt. I can’t believe we didn’t call them on it or the ump didn’t go check it.
You know the Astros would be hacking those signals.
It's only a matter of time before you see a headline like "UGA Superior Information Technology Programs Lead to Weekend Vandy Sweep"
I'm for anything that speeds up the game. I love the pitch clock. I don't think the old wrist bands speed it up but the ear piece and digital wrist bands will. I also believe umpires need to quit letting batters get out of the box. Make them stay in like the rules say.
Having a way for the catcher give the pitcher the pitch electronically may not be a bad thing. It would stop all the rookies from taking their hats off to figure out which indicator is in use...
@PitchingFan posted:I'm for anything that speeds up the game. I love the pitch clock. I don't think the old wrist bands speed it up but the ear piece and digital wrist bands will. I also believe umpires need to quit letting batters get out of the box. Make them stay in like the rules say.
With the amount of time hitters spend adjusting their batting gloves between every pitch a huge time saver would be banning batting gloves in games. Make stepping out of the box a strike. Isn’t it supposed to be?
I'd like stepping out to be a strike, but a can't say my kid is extremely fast getting the ball to the plate...
@High Change Ups Go A Long Way posted:You know the Astros would be hacking those signals.
It's only a matter of time before you see a headline like "UGA Superior Information Technology Programs Lead to Weekend Vandy Sweep"
I'm not saying the Astros can't do it (they are sneaky, resourceful cheaters)....but if they could hack AES 256-bit encryption key on a single computer before the next pitch there are a handful of 3-letter US agencies and some foreign countries that will want to talk to them. On a single computer, it would take ~6.7e40 times longer than the age of the universe to exhaust half of the keyspace of a AES-256 key. That's a wicked long time!
I'm a proponent because my son works really fast. When I was HS coach we had a four number system where one number of the four was pitch and one number was location. We worked really fast and I usually gave the pitcher catcher their next pitch before the catcher had thrown the last pitch back. We frustrated other teams and I was the one who was adamant the batter could not step out. We typically stole 15-20 pitches a year for strikes with the batter either out of the box and no time called or adjusting something and we pitched. One year we kept count and had over 40 pitches called strikes with the batter not ready. Other coaches argued but there is only one time constraint in baseball and that is the time a pitcher has to throw the next pitch and used that to our advantage tremendously with umpires.
“wicked long time”
If your name didn’t give away where you’re from “wicked” sure did. I guess you could say if the Astros could do that kind of hacking it would be wicked pissah.
I like it, wrist band, ear piece or whatever - allow electronic signals.
The whole relay process from dugout to catcher to pitcher with new signs when you think signs are stolen just takes too long and shortening games and especially reducing dead time is one of the main goals of mlb.
A well encrypted electronic system would also make sign stealing virtually impossible so no more scandals that way.
Hitters who study the game, the opposing pitcher, the opposing manager, the playing field, the weather conditions. They are prepared for the next pitch.
Roberto Clemente, Henry Aaron, Willie, would swing at a "low and away" breaking ball and knew they would receive the same pitch again.
"they controlled the batter's box"!!! Self Confidence!!! "this skill can be taught"
Bob
