Major League Baseball’s efforts to root out pitchers’ usage of foreign substances was one of the biggest stories in the sport last summer. Beginning in early June, the league made clear that it was planning to crack down on grip enhancers, concerned pitchers were using sticky stuff to enhance the quality of their raw arsenals as opposed to merely trying to improve their control.
That decision wasn’t without backlash. Rays ace Tyler Glasnow claimed the timing of the midseason enforcement contributed to an injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. Phillies manager Joe Girardi and then-Nationals star Max Scherzer had an on-field squabble after Girardi asked for umpires to check Scherzer. A pair of pitchers — Héctor Santiago and Caleb Smith — were suspended for ten games apiece.
However, the foreign substance controversy mostly faded from public view after the first few weeks of its enforcement. Umpires continued to examine pitchers’ hats, gloves and belts frequently, but Smith was the only pitcher to fail a substance check in the second half of the season.
Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated reports that MLB sent a memo to teams today informing them that foreign substance inspections will become more rigorous this season. Beginning with Spring Training contests this weekend, umpires will check pitchers’ hands directly, according to the memo. They may also continue to examine players’ equipment. Starting pitchers will be checked between random innings, while every reliever will be inspected at least once, as was the case last season.
Verducci obtains a copy of the memo, quoting MLB senior vice president of baseball operations Michael Hill as saying “If an umpire’s inspection reveals that the pitcher’s hand is unquestionably sticky or shows unmistakable signs of the presence of a foreign substance, the umpire will conclude that the pitcher was applying a foreign substance to the baseball for the purpose of gaining an unfair competitive advantage.” As was the case last season, that’d lead to an automatic ejection and suspension.
Position players aren’t subject to foreign substance inspections, but they would also be ejected and suspended if found to be harboring sticky stuff for pitchers. Verudcci writes that the league is tightening inspections in response to a fear that pitchers began carrying foreign substances on areas of their body besides their hat, belt and glove late last season. He notes that leaguewide fastball and slider spin rates and velocity-adjusted spin rates starting to trend upwards late in the year (albeit not to pre-enforcement levels) after falling dramatically in the immediate aftermath of the crackdown. Directly examining the pitcher’s hand should theoretically make it harder to skirt the substance checks and curtail whatever portion of that increase was due to pitcher subversion of the sticky stuff ban.
There remains the possibility that foreign substance checks won’t need to be as prevalent at some point in the future. MLB began to test pre-tacked baseballs in the minors late last season. In November, commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters the pre-tacked ball could be put in circulation during regular season action at some point in 2022.
Cool. Now get rid of the ghost runner rule that keeps haunting this sport. Watch football or basketball if you have an issue with long games
It’s just doing its job.
The criteria of “unquestionably sticky or shows unmistakable signs of the presence of a foreign substance” is much too vague. They need to better define this otherwise each umpire will have his own, possibly inaccurate, criteria.
All in theSuit: I follow, man. So, I’m thinking, if the criteria are “unquestionably” sticky & foreign, well that leaves a LOT of natural, regular(?) sticky substances to use… lol
Clipper: lol. Yes, there are a lot of options.
Zero issue with the ghost runner and absolutely don’t want to watch 5 hour games
@ buddy Then get a remote
Most of the things I’ve given a shot and have adapted to or have liked. I really don’t care about the three batter minimum anymore. The pitch clock doesn’t seem to affect the game to me. I’m happy the NL DH is returning. But I tried to like this extra inning rule, and I can’t say I like it. It’s the only rule change I’ve had a strong opinion against. The super long, 15+ inning game happens like once or twice a month. Only 6.2% of extra inning games in 2018 and 2019 lasted from the 15th onward.
When I looked more into the extra innings rule, the most interesting thing I found was it gave the away team a massive advantage. In the 4 seasons prior to the rule change, away teams had a .485 winning % in extra innings. Since the new rule, away teams now have a .536 WP. Now that might not seem like much on paper, but it’s a massive advantage once you stretch it out.
Each team had a near even chance of winning the game before the rule. It makes sense for a deviation of less than 2%. Home teams had the advantage because if they only gave up a single in the top of the inning, they didn’t automatically go down by a run, like they do now. A single, heck, even two sacrifice hits now scores a run. There’s a massive difference between .485/.515 and .536/.464. One is the difference between the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds records in 2021. The other is closer to the difference between the Oakland A’s and Kansas City Royals record in 2021.
Crack down like they did on tobacco usage? Anyone remember when they were going to stop new players into the league from chewing? Or is it a figment of my imagination?
Yeah, every time I see DJL pull a chew from his mouth I think, “oh, he must’ve recalled the no use tobacco policy,” after which he promptly shoves another chunk back in…lol
So full nude inspections this year?
TSA body cavity searches.
I did that at the dentist and I was escorted out by staff
Oh boy I don’t want to see old man scherzer doin the magic Mike on the mound!
Maybe the A’s will trade the rest of their pitchers and bring Big Sexy back.
I fully intend to increase my use of foreign substances this season.
Crickets
Hey 30 Parks. Hehe.
Did you make it down to Florida this year?
Not this year, Fred. I’ll be going next year and I’m planning on seeing some games this summer. Still waiting out winter in the north for now. Hope you’re well.
Ever since the new ban, he has been afraid to venture that way
Don’t travel to Russia with your substances lol
All of Cleveland starting pitchers are going to have mysterious injuries again. That they can’t recover from.
What was so mysterious about their injuries last year? Bieber had a hurt shoulder, Civale a tendon in his finger, McKenzie shoulder fatigue.. the only strange injury I recall is Plesac breaking his hand while ripping off his shirt, haha. All returned and all except for Bieber logged more than 20 starts.
All got hurt, within a couple days of each other. Right before the Umpires were going to start checking pitchers for sunscreen and other stuff.
Plesac went to the IL with a broken bone in May. McKenzie with shoulder fatigue in August. Bieber and Civale injuries were pretty close together.
What are you implying? They faked injuries because they were starting enforcement or they got injured because they were no longer able to use sticky stuff?
Would have made more sense to have selected and implemented a pre-tacked ball first.
Quite a few pitchers spin rates increased as the season progressed, indicating they likely had found a new way to still use foreign substances post the crackdown.
Or they figured out how to use the rosin bag properly instead of relying on shortcut substances.
I agree, they can’t introduce a pre tacked baseball right now? They must be under agreement with the current ball manufacturer
They own the ball manufacturer I thought. Maybe offering a pre tacked ball plus substance is the reason they haven’t. Want to get rid of the substance then introduce the tacked ball?
Probably want to see data on the pre tacked balls first before it having a major impact on the game.
Checking their hands directly seems pretty obvious. Why weren’t they doing this from the beginning?
It would have been nice if they were checking balls all along as well.. If pitchers were applying enough “substance” that the balls whistled on the way to the plate, as was reported last year, the balls themselves would have been prima facie evidence that the pitcher was doctoring them. But, what do I know?
# we will randomly start use a different baseball for select games without notification
So just how long did the umpires enforce the rule that batter has to stay in the box ?? Maybe a day or two !!!!
It’s all part of the game, the spitball, the controversies, long games, the entire folklore surrounding baseball. Does he or doesn’t he? Did he or didn’t he?
And you notice I said “he”. Yes it’s a man’s game. Sorry, ladies.
This new emphasis and impending “crackdown” is just more of the same game. Everything has its place keeping the game alive and showing a pulse.
If there was suddenly nothing to discuss or argue about, the game would be dead.
And then goodbye baseball.
That’s not a world I would want to live in.
Sorry, Fred:
VIERA, Fl. (LEX 18) — The Kentucky Wild Health Genomes selected C Alexis “Scrappy” Hopkins at No. 8. during the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball’s annual Player Draft.
Hopkins is believed to be the first female position player ever drafted and sign a contract by an American professional baseball team for an on-field position.
The draft occurred Wednesday at the end of the two-day Atlantic League Professional Showcase.
Hopkins joins Genomes Hitting Consultant, Lindsay Gardner, as another female in the clubhouse for the 2022 season.
“We are extremely excited to give Scrappy an opportunity to play in Lexington and to be the first female in the Atlantic League,” said Genomes manager Mark Minicozzi. “We’re excited to see her start her journey into professional baseball.”
https://www.lex18.com/sports/kentucky-wild-health-genomes-draft-first-female-in-league-history
Oh, sure, Pink. We know all about that.
Pick a subject or a field of endeavor and you’ll always find something freaky going on.
As a kid I read all about Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
Back then it was Babe. Now it’s somebody called Scrappy.
It’s still a man’s game..
Who really wants women everywhere around who can be athletic like men?
What sort of society would that be?
Not a society I would want to live in.
If a woman can play the game as well as a man, why would that bother you?
I’m sure that Fred Park isn’t aware of the All-American Women’s baseball league that existed in the US for many years and the women’s teams could beat any professional man’s team. Women are just as athletic and talented as men and to say otherwise displays racism, bigotry, and ignorance of reality. Any sport that screams men only is prejudiced and are unable to accept reality that men aren’t the be all-end all in sports.
It doesn’t bother me.
But the point is that the thing is newsworthy only for its freak value.
Do we see a front-page news story about every young man that gets a shot at the big time?
No.
That’s common enough that it is not considered newsworthy outside his home territory.
But let that young man score a spot on a women’s team, and then the freak value would kick in and everybody would get a chance to read about it.
SOME women may very well be
I heard all about that just like everyone did, some stories true and some embellished greatly.
Oh, and by the way, Wisdom Shared, prejudice is real and is ubiquitous.
I got it, you got it, everybody’s got it.
It is how we deal with such matters that measures and defines a truly civilized society.
(Or, human being, for that matter.)
As long as she is a “natural woman” all good. May the best man win. err, I mean person..
@Wisdom Shared, I mentioned earlier that prejudice is ubiquitous.
Another thing truly ubiquitous is self-delusion.
When you come to preach to me, first be sure you have taken a good look at yourself.
“man’s game”? It is a children’s game played by boys. I do not think your definition of a man would include this sport. It is fun to watch because they are boys.
Crack down on terrible umpiring.
Crank down on terrible fans!
Gross. You couldn’t pay me any amount to check dudes for sticky hands.
Jackson Mahomes would leap at this opportunity
Over/under on the number of times Max Scherzer attempts to drop his trousers on the mound?
I thought they didn’t want to delay games.
They do the checks between innings so no increase above the usual delay for TV commercials. Or at least that’s how they did it last year.
Yes, the ghost runner is lame but 14 inning games or longer crush the bullpen. Especially if you use a bunch of guys from the 5th inning on. Didn’t they limit the amount of times you can send guys up and down to the minors? That doesn’t help.
because they couldn’t catch anyone before because it was not sticky stuff but them actually just deadening the ball?
MLB is ok with giving a team an unearned free two bases but don’t want pitchers to do what they’ve always done. Bring on the high scoring games. Any game where a ghost runner scores the winning run should get an * .
The ghost runner is an equal advantage to each team. Spider-Tack, which breaks the rules, is unequal because a team that uses it is cheating and a team that follows the rules has a disadvantage.
Not defending the ghost runner. Just saying they’re not comparable.
I don’t know how you’d think ghost runner is equal advantage. If you looked at the one commented post above saying that 4 years prior to manfreds extra inning rule away teams were .485% than after went to a .535%. that’s a 78 win team going to an 86 win team if every game. It seems to HEAVILY favor the AWAY team
It really hurt the pitchers who did not use “stuff” on their fingers during their careers. I definitely know of a few. Lower spin rates, lower success rate and less salary. Quite obvious that the guys who get blisters a lot are using the stuff.
Maybe stop the league runner on 2nd in extras first.
Why not just start the tenth with bases loaded… artificially jack up those rbi numbers… excitement. mr Manbun.. turn a classic 1-1 pitching duel into an 11-10 final…
Nothing will have me stop watching a game faster than bad pitching. If we want the game to take less time why do we want more offense? You ever been to a game where 13 runs have been scored? It’s the most boring thing and I was on my phone instead watching another game
“Rays ace Tyler Glasnow claimed the timing of the midseason enforcement contributed to an injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery.”
After I robbed that bank, I pulled my hamstring running from the cops! I demand an apology, Pigs!
Is this why Andrew Miller retired
Substances are tricky. Sometimes the ball is slick and a pitcher needs help to grip it so they can throw it accurately towards a man at 95 mph and not hit him. On the other hand, with pitchers gaming the game by increasing their spin rates, the extra tack helps them throw extraordinary pitches. It also leads to more arm injuries because I’m convinced the pitcher wouldn’t try to rip the ball as hard for that high spin rate if they didn’t have the extra grip, they’d likely be too wild. So, I think there needs to be a balance. Prohibition and/or strict enforcement is not a good solution.
This is not good for my yankees.
Do they check any catchers? Seems you could hide some body butter or whatever the hell they use somewhere in there equipment?
Manfred has hated pitchers ever since one refused to give him an autograph as a child.
This is a little bit better timing than the last time they announced this, although this is something you tell people before spring training games start I feel
What’s the Over-Under for pitchers ejected for illegal substances this season?