It would seem to me to be extraneous and relate more to the lines historic Professional (aka DJ) market placement.
Almost every Vintage Direct Drive turntables have PITCH Control, the only difference is that it is KNOB (like on Denon DP-80, Victor TT-101), not FADER like on the Technics SL1200 series. Having a pitch control on turntable is a great bonus and most of the top models have it. Just sayin'