Lorenzen 'loved every second' of first PitchCom experience

LOS ANGELES -- Tuesday night, a 5-0 Angels loss at Dodger Stadium to close out the Spring Training portion of the 2022 season, represented a few milestones for Michael Lorenzen.

It was a chance for Lorenzen, an Anaheim native, to pitch close to home for the first time as a member of the Angels. It was a solid final tune-up for the right-hander, who threw 80 pitches and struck out four in 4 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits and two walks while flashing a particularly effective slider.

The results, though, were secondary to something a little more experimental: Lorenzen’s first in-game exposure to PitchCom technology.

Officially approved for regular-season use by Major League Baseball on Tuesday, PitchCom is “a wearable device that transmits signals from catcher to pitcher” that will be optionally available for players this season.

More on the on-field innovation, via MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince:

“Aimed at both improving pace of play and preventing opponent sign-stealing, PitchCom eliminates the need for a catcher’s traditional finger signals. Rather, the catcher wears a forearm sleeve -- resembling a remote control -- with nine buttons for calling the pitch and location. The pitcher has a receiver in his cap, the catcher has one in his helmet and receivers can also be worn by up to three other fielders (typically, the two middle infielders and the center fielder) to adjust fielder positioning.”

Lorenzen could definitely see the advantages, even if the device came with a slight learning curve for him and his catcher, Max Stassi.

“There were some tempo, rhythm [issues] that me and [Stassi] both needed to figure out,” said Lorenzen. “Once we figured it out, I loved every second of it. Because you get to pre-set the pitch in your glove, and there’s just a lot of positives that come out of it.”

There are some kinks still to be worked out -- Lorenzen suggests that an in-ear piece for the catcher would go a long way toward optimizing the process -- but overall, the right-hander considers the use of PitchCom to be a big plus.

“In the first inning, the rhythm of it was not very good, and we almost gave up on it, but we were able to say, ‘Hey, one hitter in the second inning, let’s try it out again and let’s pick up the tempo,’ and we ended up really liking it,” said Lorenzen. “I think that’s where you saw me settle in, was when our tempo was picked up, we were on the same page, we were working really well. So I’m glad we stuck with it and were able to make the adjustment that we needed.”

While there is something very futuristic about this use of technology in baseball, fans may be surprised to learn that there’s also something quite familiar about PitchCom -- its voice.

“Sounds kind of like Siri,” said Lorenzen.