New York Yankees

Joe Girardi says MLB should borrow from the NFL to improve pace of play

Published Feb. 23, 2017 12:58 p.m. ET

Chris Bahr

There has been a ton of debate this week on how to improve the pace of play in baseball, with the commissioner trading barbs with the players union and the announcement that a simple hand signal will replace the traditional four-pitch intentional walk. Among the various other suggestions is an interesting one from Yankees skipper Joe Girardi.

Girardi proposes that Major League Baseball take a page from the National Football League and put earpieces in players' helmets/caps. And he makes a solid point about how this form of communication could speed up at-bats.

“Realistically you could put it in your hitters’ helmets and you could say what you wanted,’’ Girardi said, via the New York Post. “Then it’s not a sign from me to the third-base coach and a sign to the player. Instead of catchers always going out to change signs they could do it through communication. I think you could speed the game up a lot that way. The thing about signs is that signs take time and it slows it down.’’