Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Rich Hill and catcher Christian Vázquez proved Sunday how, despite how the old saying goes, sometimes you can teach two veteran baseball players new tricks.
Hill and Vázquez went about their day with the Red Sox catcher using the newly-added PitchCom technology. The PitchCom technology, approved by the MLB for the first time this season, is a wearable device that transmits signals from catcher to pitcher, essentially looking like a wristband on the arm of Vázquez. Vázquez then calls the game with two buttons rather than signaling pitches between his legs. The call gets relayed to the pitcher via a headset in his hat.
“Yeah, I really, really liked it. It was a good rhythm of the game,” Hill said after throwing four innings in the eventual 5-2 loss. “I think there was maybe a few things here and there we can we can change with some pitches, but overall like I thought it was really, really good.”
It was the first time Hill pitched in a game with PitchCom. Vázquez shared that the only other Red Sox pitcher to use it was Nathan Eovaldi when Boston faced the Detroit Tigers in mid-April.
“It was like weird, like, touching buttons, but I think I was playing PlayStation,” Vázquez joked while speaking with NESN’s Jahmai Webster after the game. “But I like it. It was quick. The tempo of the game was better, I think. I like it.
“I think with late in the games, a man on second base, for the bullpen guys I think it’s going to help a lot too. I think it’s going to be like, stealing signs is going to be less, you know?,” Vázquez said. “I think it’s going to help a lot.”
Vázquez further explained how he’s able to call a pitch while using two different buttons, one that selects the type of pitch and the other that selects the location of said pitch. It’s been used by a handful of other MLB teams with the league and MLBPA adapting the technology.
The time of Sunday’s game, while obviously not strictly due to PitchCom, was two hours and 38 minutes. The fact the Red Sox had two hits during the final eight innings played a factor in that, as well.
Boston will travel to Toronto as the Red Sox get set for a three-game series against the Blue Jays starting Monday.
