MLB’s Sticky Situation With Foreign Substances

MLB is once again angering its players by cracking down hard on the use of foreign substances.

Across the league, players have expressed either their approval or disdain over the recent announcement by MLB to institute a 10-day suspension over the use of foreign substances.

“I understand there’s a history of foreign substances being used on the ball, but what we are seeing today is objectively far different, with much tackier substances being used more frequently than ever before,” Commissioner Rob Manfred stated in a June 15 press release. “It has become clear that the use of foreign substances has generally morphed from trying to get a better grip on the ball into something else – an unfair competitive advantage that is creating a lack of action and an uneven playing field.”

First off, it’s important to note what a “foreign substance” is under MLB’s rules. A foreign substance in this context refers to a substance used to make the ball stickier or easier to grip. One of the most popular methods by which to do this is a mixture of sunscreen and rosin or pine tar, so expect many sunburnt players out there in the next couple of months. Additionally, there have been conversations over another sticky product, Spider Tack, a waxy substance initially made for powerlifters to increase grip.

Starting Monday, pitchers will be checked routinely throughout the game by umpires to ensure no illegal substances are being used. So much for shortening the overall length of a baseball game, I guess. For pitchers, it’ll be like they’re going through TSA just to step out onto the field. 

For those of you who may be wondering, pitchers have been using substances to grip the ball better for decades. MLB just decided this year, though, that it was no longer fair and the playing field needed to be leveled. In fact, MLB cut the players off cold turkey — as if that’s ever been very effective. 

The announcement stirred a lot of criticism from pitchers across the league, including Los Angeles Dodgers SP Trevor Bauer, Tampa Bay Rays SP Tyler Glasnow and New York Yankees SP Gerrit Cole. Glasnow, in particular, attributes his recent partial UCL tear and flexor tendon strain to the abrupt end of grip enhancers. He claims the soreness after cutting his sunscreen and rosin concoction damaged his arm and, effectively, his Cy Young candidacy. 

For the most part, many of the pitchers in the league have said that while this plan is a good idea, the timing is bizarre. Three months deep into the regular season seems like a random point for MLB to put their foot down. If anything, the policy would probably have little opposition if proposed during the offseason.

Of course, it should come as no surprise that pitchers are upset, as no-hitters are becoming as common as ever, and the spin rate across the league is at an all-time high — well, until recently. While pitchers are pretty universally against the rule, some hitters across the league are seemingly OK with the new plan.

“In the last, I would say, two years, the ball has been moving a lot differently than it has in my first eight years in the big leagues,” Boston Red Sox OF J.D. Martinez said about the new rules.  

It will be the responsibility of the umpires to determine during a game at these routine checks if a player is using a substance. How that will work is yet to be defined. If it means a pat-down or for the players to practically hand all their clothes over at the end of the game, nobody knows. 

Superagent Scott Boras, who negotiated deals for such players as OF Bryce Harper, 3B Anthony Rendon and SP Hyun-jin Ryu, mentioned in a statement sent to USA Today how complicated the rules will be to manage. 

“To suggest pine tar can be used [on bats] by the very same players that play defense is truly an umpire’s conundrum,” Boras said in the USA Today article. The pitcher hits using pine tar and is suspended for applying the substance to the baseball, or the position player with pine tar on his throwing hand from the prior at-bat transfers it [to] the ball, and then both he and the pitcher are deprived of 10 days of performance for legal use of a permissible substance. The gray divide continues!!!!”

This “gray area” seems almost impossible for umpires to manage, especially when many of them already miss routine calls and wrongfully call balls and strikes. I believe that putting even more pressure on these umpires will only serve to cause more harm than good.

To some degree, I understand the point MLB is trying to make. Everyone needs to be on equal footing. However, MLB is attempting to micromanage so many aspects of the game that ultimately can result in serious injuries. 

“Just talk to [the players],” Cole said. “I know you have the hammer here, but we’ve been living in a gray area for so long.”

Cover photo courtesy of Jae C. Hong/AP Photo