Youth baseball gets MLB technology upgrade as Perfect Game partners with PitchCom

Jon Updike explains how the partnership between Perfect Game and PitchCom will be of great benefit to youth baseball players.

EXCLUSIVE: PitchCom was introduced to MLB at the beginning of the 2022 season, and the communication system has quickly become prominent in the baseball world, overhauling pitcher-catcher communication. 

Perfect Game, a youth baseball company that promotes baseball by hosting high-quality amateur events and providing exposure for players to play at higher levels, is the first organization of its kind to partner with PitchCom, Fox News Digital exclusively learned Thursday.

PitchCom emerged after the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal during their World Series run in 2017 rocked the baseball world. 

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PitchCom devices on a field with the Perfect Game logo. (Courtesy of PitchCom)

John Hankins, co-investor and co-owner of PitchCom, saw that MLB had a need for a communication device that could prevent sign stealing. The challenge was the device couldn’t be vocal, and MLB officials didn’t want players to wear a communication device on their bodies. 

Hankins came up with PitchCom, which allows a catcher to press a button on a transmitter to call pitches. The transmitter sends prerecorded audio clips to the receivers, who in turn will hear the pitch call and defensive signals. 

The pitcher and fielders wear the receiver in their hats and can hear what the catcher inputs, allowing for clear and secure communication safe from being stolen, unlike traditional catcher signs. 

When Major League Baseball first heard of it, it loved the idea.

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"(We had) a meeting before a