Why Do Baseball Coaches Use Stopwatches?

"We still use the stopwatch on the running game," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. So do the other teams. First base coaches pull them out of their back pockets and time a pitcher's move to the plate during a game. It helps them to know how quickly the pitcher is getting rid of the ball during any given inning.

Why do 1st base coaches have a stopwatch?

Well, here's what the hell Doug – and every other first base coach – is doing out there: first base coaches use a stopwatch to time how long it takes the pitcher to deliver a pitch to home plate when there's a runner on base. And to understand just how important those pitch delivery times are, we have to do some math.

Why do baseball scouts use stopwatches?

-The stopwatch is also used to determine how long it takes for the pitcher/catcher combination to get the pitch to the catcher's glove and then for the catcher to make the throw to a middle-infielder on stolen base attempts. ... The catcher must get the ball to the infielder in less than 2.0 seconds.