Dave Roberts, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, expressed concern that one of its star pitchers, Trevor Bauer, has been singled out in Major League Baseball’s renewed effort to reduce the illegal use of foreign substances in baseballs.
Bauer’s name appeared in a recent report by The Athletic that said several baseballs were collected from his Wednesday outing against Oakland Athletics for inspection after he was found to contain visible marks and felt sticky. Bauer complained about the report through his Twitter account and criticized MLB for leaking information about “a supposedly confidential process.”
“I understand the referees collect baseballs from all the pitchers and the balls that were in play to collect samples,” Roberts said Friday morning ahead of his team’s home opener. “That’s what I have. I hope our player isn’t singled out. That’s the only thing I don’t want to protect.”
MLB, which has spent the past year trying to gain control over pitchers using foreign substances in an effort to maximize turnover rates and generate more oscillations and failures, issued a note to teams on March 21 outlining three new police methods.
It included the presence of two employees (a game day compliance monitor and an electronics compliance officer) parked at all dance stands, partly responsible for identifying violations of foreign substances. The league also said it would review Statcast data to identify alarming increases in spin speed and instruct staff on the field, including referees and authenticators, “to present out-of-game basketballs to the game. commissioner’s office for further inspection and documentation “. “
“They will prioritize baseballs that contain potential evidence of a foreign substance,” the note said, “but they will also select balls at random to ensure full coverage.”
Some of these balls will be outsourced to a lab for later inspection, but sources told ESPN that the league will spend the 2021 season primarily in information gathering mode and that multiple basketballs have been collected from various pitchers from every game this season. So far, Bauer is not currently facing any possible punishment from the league. But the findings of the baseballs being inspected could be used as supporting evidence for the penalty on the road.
Bauer publicly criticized the league’s original note, posting a 23-minute video on YouTube questioning MLB’s intent, saying foreign substances should be standardized, and questioning whether pitchers should be disciplined by lawmakers. substances from baseballs that are collected during matches.
“If I throw a throw and it’s thrown and put to the test and has a weird substance, how do they know it comes from me and not the receiver’s glove or the third base glove or a foul ball?” Bauer said in his video. “What if you hit the handle of a bat where a batter has pine tar, or any other substance you want, which is completely legal as long as it doesn’t rise too high above the bat? How will they know that I was it me and I was guilty of using a foreign substance when it could come from some other legal place? “
Bauer has been the most outspoken athlete for many years when it comes to the need for MLB to correct the problem of pitchers who use substances like pine tar and sunscreen to get better control of baseballs and create more twists, a direct violation of a rule. 6.02 – which has never been strictly applied. More recently, however, there has been speculation about Bauer as a possible offender given the increase in spin speed of his four-seam fast ball during the season that he won the Cy Young Award in 2020.
MLB took its first step in controlling the issue last year by preventing coaches, coaches and clubhouse assistants from providing or administering foreign substances to pitchers, a new regulation that led to the controversial long-term hospital dismissal. of Los Angeles Angels, Brian Harkins.
This year, MLB’s main goal, according to sources, is to gather information on the subject and also punish the most egregious criminals. Ultimately, the league hopes to replace the traditional mud used to scrub baseballs with a more sticky substance that would prevent pitchers from using other means to achieve better control of the ball that is often said to be too calcareous. . If the league succeeds in this, a pursuit of the whole industry issue, expect to watch the 6.02 standard as it is written. Until then, however, that will not necessarily be the case.
Technically, pitchers can only use the rosin provided at the back of the mound, but it is believed that the vast majority of pitchers use other substances with varying degrees of stick. In recent years, there has also been talk of teams creating their own substances to distribute to their pitchers.
Roberts, however, believes Bauer is pointed out.
Because?
“I don’t know,” Roberts said. “That’s the only name I’ve heard float.”