The Death of Sign Stealing: Part Deux

We covered in one of our more extensive posts to-date, the reason for the implementation of the PitchCom technology. In this post, we thought we would likely have to go into an equally in depth analysis of how MLB calculated the reduction in game time due to the implementation of PitchCom.  Well, that is not the case, since after thoroughly combing through the internet, we could not find any analysis substantiating the reduction of game length by PitchCom. Instead, if you put in any search related to PitchCom and analysis of speeding up the game, this will only note the total reduction of game length compared to games prior to implementing all the new rule changes.  Therefore, there is an absence of any analysis that isolates the PitchCom factor of game time reduction, which renders any claims about the effectiveness of PitchCom pretty much unsubstantiated.

Furthermore, even without any analysis, the notion that PitchCom increases the pace of play and reduces the game time is likely dubious at best.  The reason that we can make that claim is that the implementation of the pitch clock and not PitchCom are the reasons for the faster pace of play, since pitchers now only have 15 seconds with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners on base to deliver a pitch.  Therefore, it does not seem outlandish to assume that the primary reason for speeding up the game (which seems to be the only thing MLB lives for nowadays) is the pitch clock.  Pitchers cannot go beyond these time constraints or they will be penalized with an automatic ball credited to the batter.

Without any analysis we instead noted that MLB first employed PitchCom in 2022 and implemented the pitch clock in 2023. The average game time length in 2021 was 3 hours and 11 minutes and that reduced to 3 hours and 6 minutes in 2022.  It was not until 2023 and the implementation of the pitch clock that there was a significant reduction in game length to 2 hours and 42 minutes.  Therefore, one could conclude that PitchCom might have had a minor effect on the game by reducing the overall game time by five minutes as evidenced by the change in game length between the 2021 and 2022 season.  The absence of any statistical analysis though does not permit that conclusion, since such small variances are simply normal fluctuations from year-to-year and are really impossible to attribute directly to the employment of PitchCom.

Even despite such lack of evidence, MLB continues to tout PitchCom as part of the reason for the faster games today as noted in this recent press release:

“First adopted for usage in MLB games in 2022, the PitchCom System has become an integral part of baseball’s efforts towards improving pace of play. Since 2023, PitchCom has seamlessly worked in tandem with the Pitch Clock, the hallmark of the rule changes, to help facilitate a crisper pace, more action and better aesthetics. The Pitch Clock particularly benefited young fans and families, who can watch the endings of games in the ballpark and from home much more easily.”

Again, MLB is taking victory laps for shaving time off the game associated with PitchCom, but there is not any evidence that this technology has significantly increased the pace of play in any respect.  Why are we not surprised.