MLB Cracking Down on Foreign Substances

[Eye Black]

A series of tweets from Jeff Passan this morning:

 

MLB's attempts to crack down on foreign substances are outlined in a memo obtained by ESPN. Among the plans:

 

- Increased monitoring by compliance officers

- Inspections of baseballs taken out of play that will use a third-party lab to check for substances

- Spin-rate analysis

 

Compliance officers will monitor dugouts, clubhouses, tunnels, batting cages and bullpens. They will take a random sample of balls, and the lab will search not just for the substances themselves but the type being utilized. Statcast data will compare spin rate to career norms.

 

The memo, first reported by Joel Sherman says: “Players are subject to discipline by the Commissioner’s Office for violating the Official Baseball Rules regardless of whether evidence of the violation has been discovered during or following a game.”

 

Teams are warned that employees are not allowed to handle foreign substances, tell a pitcher how to mask them or interfere with the collection of game-used balls. MLB has said it wants to crack down. This is a broad-sounding effort whose efficacy will be interesting in practice.

[Eye Black]

This seems like, at least in part, it's a response to one pitcher who has made it fairly obvious.

 

A Defector article from last September outlines Bauer's spin rate track record: Trevor Bauer Should Just Admit It

[JosephC]

About time MLB does something about this. Long overdue.

 

For the record, I have no problem against MLB pitchers using "grip substances" if everyone involved agrees that it's fine to do so. But then change the rule and make it legal, don't leave a rule on the book that everyone just ignores and then look the other way.

[homer]

 

Lab analysis says pine tar and grip substances increases fastball stuff by 10% and breaking all stuff by 20-30% so this is a big deal. We’ve also reported that this will be really tough to do, and MLB said they would crack down last year and caught one clubhouse attendant.

[jerichoholicninja]

Manford has failed at everything he's tried to do to "fix" baseball. I don't see how this can wind up any different.

[AKCheesehead]

If this crackdown really comes to fruition and nixes all foreign substances, it is going to be absolutely fascinating to watch how different guys are impacted.

 

That $288mil the yankees are paying Cole over the next 8 years could turn into a really fun joke, for example.

[stoutdude04]

If this crackdown really comes to fruition and nixes all foreign substances, it is going to be absolutely fascinating to watch how different guys are impacted.

 

That $288mil the yankees are paying Cole over the next 8 years could turn into a really fun joke, for example.

 

Bauer too. His rpms were up 400 last year.

[wildcat83]

Hope it's true, it gets annoying watching games on ESPN with cameras zooming in on obvious spots on a pitcher's arm, neck, or hat yet nothing is done about it. I find it hard to believe that they will actually follow through with this though.

 

Between this rule and deadening the baseball, it sort of has the makings of more balls in play. Your making pitchers more hittable, yet making it harder to hit a home run. In theory it should make the game more entertaining, but I'm in the believe it when I see it boat.

[Underachiever]

Is it possible that a guy picks up a couple hundred RPM without a foreign substance? Bauer is perhaps the most visible because of his past statements, and a previous poster mentioned Gerrit Cole, but you have to look at Devin Williams and wonder if he is using something. I don't think his minor league performance could have predicted last year's success. His pitches do weird things, and he went from striking out 10-12 per 9 in the minors to striking out 17.7 per 9 in 2020. When Burnes went to the pitching lab, did he come out of it with an increased spin rate? It certainly seems that cracking down on the use of substances and getting a more "normal" spin rate would do more for increasing offense in MLB than any mound changes could ever hope to do.

 

I'm not being naive, but maybe it's just that pitching is ahead of hitting. With emphasis on power arms, limiting pitch counts, and going deep into the bullpen every night, pitching has evolved to a place that is defeating hitting.