Pitchcom and edge command technology in diamond sports: A systematic literature review of play-calling digital technology, data-based game changes, and digital security efforts in modern sport

Professional sports organizations increasingly function as dynamic, highly capitalized environments for enterprise information systems to deploy innovation, infrastructure deployment, and data-driven operational control. Over the past four decades, athletic administration and sports sciences have undergone a paradigm shift, evolving from legacy manual reactive monitoring and after-game data aggregation and collection to widespread deployment of advanced computational modeling, cloud-based performance prediction systems, and stadium-wide big data architecture. While an expansive body of literature and popular cultural hallmarks like the movie, Moneyball, focus on predictive analytics, administrative roster building and sustainment, player valuation, and long-term asset management and forecasting, a critical structural research gap exists in real-time operational digital information systems during live high velocity gameplay at every level, children’s games to high-stakes professional softball and baseball. This systematic literature review directly addresses this gap by exploring the rapid on-field utilization of encrypted edge-signaling hardware, specifically Pitchcom, a system proliferating in professional, collegiate, and amateur diamond sports in less than a decade. By investigating how live on-field communication infrastructures are deployed to protect critical competitive data vulnerabilities, prevent digital espionage through end-to-end encryption, and enforce strict regulatory compliance with compressed pace of play mandates, this exploration will highlight how edge tools actively reshape real-time human decision-making, cognitive workload distribution, and human-machine collaboration in traditional pastimes turned into high-stakes multi-million dollar enterprises.