The use of a one-way communication device between a coach in the dugout and a team’s catcher for the purposes of calling pitches will be permitted in high school baseball beginning in 2024, according to a press release issued by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in early July.
It is one of five rules approved to be implemented in the 2024 high school baseball season. The rule revisions were approved by the NFHS Baseball Rules Committee at a June 4-6 meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana and the recommendations were approved by the NFHS Board of Directors after the recommendations. The new rule regarding communication devices prohibits coaches from communicating with any other player in the field besides the catcher. It also prohibits any communication with a player while batting. The communicating coach must also be in the dugout when using the communication device.
“This change is consistent with the growth of the game and is indicative of a measured and responsible approach to enable technology into our level of competition,” said Elliot Hopkins, NFHS Director of Sports and Educational Services and liaison to the Baseball Rules Committee.
“The committee has made these changes to maintain the balance between offense and defense; increase the pace of play; and will responsibly manage technology so there is no advantage gained by schools that have more available resources than some of their contemporaries. Creating a level playing field is paramount to education-based athletics.”
Another revision was aimed at spectator behavior at baseball games. More specifically, who will be responsible for managing any unruly fans in attendance this spring. It’s a change to Rule 10-2-3h. The edit removes spectators’ behavior from the umpire-in-chief’s jurisdiction when deciding to forfeit a contest.
“The committee agreed that poor behavior by spectators should be handled by game administration,” the release read.
Moving forward, only infractions by players, coaches or team/bench personnel are under the umpire’s jurisdiction.
“This change is a complementary rule to support schools’ game management role in addressing unacceptable behavior and will allow the umpire to focus on the action on the field,” said Hopkins.
According to the release, a recent NFHS participation survey showed that baseball is the fourth-most popular sport played by boys nationwide. It found that 481,004 male student-athletes played baseball at 15,925 high schools across the country.
The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) has not released any information regarding the baseball rule changes, but revisions to its constitution and bylaws are expected to align with the NFHS changes ahead of the 2024 baseball season.
