By: Kaila Priester
Baseballs that are sticky and have unnaturally high spin rates may be on their way out. If MLB Pitchers are detected utilizing prohibited chemicals to doctor baseballs, they will be ejected and suspended for ten games. Players caught using these substances will be suspended for violations on this matter and will not be replaced on the active roster. Major League Baseball will enforce this beginning on Monday.
These new guidelines come from the commissioner’s office reacting to the league’s batting average and record strikeouts that are more than a half-century low. The latest MLB pitching guidelines are expected to boost batting performance.
Major and minor league umpires will conduct frequent examinations of all pitchers even if rival managers don’t seek inspections. Starting pitchers will be subject to more than one required inspection each game. In addition, the umpire will check relief pitchers after they finish an inning when they enter the game or when they get removed from the game.
A position player will not get dismissed for possessing a foreign substance unless the umpire finds the player putting it on a ball to assist the pitcher.
Players who refuse to participate in an inspection will be ejected and suspended. Club members who refuse to comply or fail to disclose offenses of aiding pitchers in the concealment of foreign substances will face suspensions and fines.
Pitchers can still utilize the rosin bags positioned behind the mounds but cannot mix them with other substances, like sunscreen. Pitchers are only permitted to wear sunscreen in outdoor ballparks if the sun is still up. Sunscreen is not allowed for the pitchers to use if in an indoor stadium.
Many pitchers argue that coating balls with adhesive substances are a century-old custom that is largely favored in a discreet way to give the pitcher a better grip on the ball. They believe that these older chemicals help them control the ball better, to the point where they can avoid accidentally hitting batters with inaccurate pitches. The MLB emphasized that the new substances being used are significantly more effective and improve performance. Multiple unidentified pitchers told the league they had switched from Spider Tack to pine tar – a product with a long history of use in baseball.
