Major League Baseball is ramping up enforcement of its ban on pitchers using sticky substances to increase spin and movement. In a memo to all clubs Thursday obtained by Sports Illustrated, MLB said it is ordering umpires to conduct more thorough and more random checks of pitchers, to initiate in-game searches without opposing managers’ requests and to check catchers’ equipment.
The memo was sent by Michael Hill, senior vice president of on-field operations. MLB began its crackdown on sticky substances in 2021. By the end of that season, spin rates climbed again as pitchers figured out easy workarounds to largely cursory and predictable searches. “Unfortunately, spin rates began to rise again during the 2022 season and we received reports of continued use of foreign substances on the field,” Hill wrote.
Umpires this year are instructed to “increase the frequency and scope of foreign substance checks,” according to the memo.
They can check pitchers before or after any inning in which they pitch. They can instigate a check if they observe any evidence they regard as suspicious. They are instructed to act upon “suspicious behavior.” For instance, if an umpire observes a pitcher wiping his hands before an inspection, he can eject that pitcher.
In addition, catchers for the first time are subject to “routine inspection.”
The crackdown comes amid rising spin rates that make pitches more difficult to hit, as well as anecdotal reports about how pitchers learned to skirt the largely predictable inspections, such as hiding sticky substances in areas they knew would not be checked (umpires last season checked only the pitchers’ fingers), wiping their fingers before a check and storing sticky substances on catchers’ equipment, such as mitts and shin guards.
If a catcher is found to be storing sticky substances to improve pitch performance, both the catcher and pitcher will be ejected.
MLB also is holding accountable club personnel, such as coaches and clubhouse attendants. According to the memo, “Any Club employee who assists a player in the use of foreign substances (e.g., encouraging a player in any way to use foreign substances, handling foreign substances, masking player use of foreign substances, interfering with collections of baseballs, and failing to report violations) will be subject to severe discipline.”
The memo also explains that official rosin bags are to be used alone to improve grip and not in combination with substances such as sunscreen, a common recipe to improve pitch performance. It is not unusual to see bottles of sunscreen in dugouts for night games and indoor games. According to the memo, pitchers should not apply sunscreen for night and indoor games.
The memo also reinforced MLB’s protocols for the rubbing, storing and handling of game baseballs, protocols that were adopted last June. Baseballs should be rubbed with mud in no more than a three-hour window the day of the game and stored in a humidor in original divided boxes. In past years, baseballs might be rubbed with mud at various times and stored in ball bags. Pitchers complained the baseballs often were slick because mud dried and caked off and the baseballs at the bottom of the bag had less tackiness.
