MLB Pitchers Are Cheating Again But It's Ok Now

major league pitchers are cheating again mob knows about it and they're not doing anything to stop it and this is the right decision which is ironic because just last year mlp cracked down on this same type of cheating which resulted in pitchers getting suspended stripping in the middle of the field players having altercations and parking lots and careers seemingly ending overnight in 2021 mlb's crackdown on foreign substances worked perfectly offense increased overnight and league-wide spin rate plummeted but this year spin rate is quietly going up again umpires have essentially stopped checking players and countless suspicious videos of pitchers applying foreign substances have emerged illegal sticky substances like spider tech give pitchers such an unfair advantage some describe it as being more effective than steroids it directly contributed to the lowest league-wide batting average in history turned average pitchers into stars and resulted in garrett cole giving one of the most awkward and guiltiest answers of all time have you ever used spider attack while pitching um i don't [Music] i don't know i i i don't know if uh i don't know quite i don't quite know how to answer that to be honest around the time of this interview mlb began implementing random empire checks and giving a 10 game suspension to any player caught using any foreign substance which are being illegally used by pitchers to add more spin and movement to their pitches on the day of this announcement garrett cole's fastball spin rate was down 125 rpms whatever substance he was using he had quit cold turkey but fast forward to 2022 and you can see video of garrett cole repeatedly using what looks like to be an illegal sticky substance in every game you watch pitchers are doing this exact same thing by putting sticky substance on their hats in their belts on their pants in their hair and repeatedly touching it after every pitch according to mlb each pitcher should be checked by an umpire at least once a game but videos like this show relievers coming in throwing an inning then leaving a game without getting checked at all mlb seems to be pulling back on their strict enforcement and this dates all the way back to the 2021 alcs when fans online began making several cheating accusations against the houston astros they accused them of signaling signs to the batters by whistling which was heard directly before several astros home runs when the game was stopped because of a light that was seen through the outfield fence more fans accused them of using this as a way to signal the batter signs and they even claim dusty baker was wearing an illegal fitbit during the game but the cheating allegation that actually had merit was made by the red sox radio broadcast which pointed out framber valdez was repeatedly touching his forehead probably mixing it with a foreign substance and rubbing it on the ball throughout the game the next day another foreign substance was spotted on corey knable's hat this was in october but rewind to knable's first appearance after the umpire checks were implemented and there was nothing on his hat because during this time he'd more than likely be suspended for it just like hector santiago was on june 27th he reached into his belt 20 times in a single inning which is a known place pitchers like to hide a foreign substance a few innings later he was checked and sarcastically ran away like he had something to hide ironically he did have something to hide the umpires found a sticky substance in his glove and suspended him 10 games santiago claims this was just a legal mix of sweat and rosin but in his very next appearance he didn't reach into his belt once and his fastball spin rate decreased by 150 rpms a few weeks later caleb smith entered a game and was seen touching his belt throughout his outing he also developed a brown spot on his pants that got bigger the more he pitched he was checked and the umpires found nothing the next knitting the brown spot on his pants got a little bigger and between innings he was checked again and the umpires discovered a sticky substance in his glove which caused him to absolutely lose it later saying it was just dirt which he rubs on his hand every start however he was suspended 10 games without any noticeable increase in spin rate moby's crackdown scared pitchers so much that sunny grey even rubbed his pants on the mound to get rid of pine tar he accidentally got on his pants during an at-bat mob began to enforce these rules with three main goals they wanted less walks less strikeouts and more hits to increase more balls put in play and more overall action and moby's crackdown instantly achieved all three of these goals but despite this massive success pitchers have started using foreign substances again leading to july 2022 having the highest league-wide spin rate of any july in major league history mob knows this and hasn't done anything to stop it and they have a very good reason not to but before we get to that a word from today's sponsor this season sea geek has a deal for everyone they're giving away a free 20 off tickets to anyone who uses the promo code baseball doesn't exist sea geek is a ticketing app that has made buying tickets easier than ever i use it every time i buy tickets for baseball games basketball games football games concerts and pretty much any live event possible i've been using sea geek all year to see games everywhere because it's easy the tickets are available within minutes and you know you're getting a good deal because they rank their tickets based on how good the price is a green dot means it's a good deal a red dot means it's bad so you know you're not getting ripped off so please click the link below and download seek today and don't forget to use promo code baseball doesn't exist for 20 off your first purchase the positive impact foreign substance checks had on offense made mlb very happy however it made pitchers extremely mad lance lynn was so annoyed with an umpire check he once set his glove and hat on the top of the dugout and tried to go into the clubhouse the umpire then reminded him he needed to check his belt lynn threw his belt at the umpire from the dugout and was immediately ejected when max scherzer was checked for the first time he was visibly pissed when he was checked for the second time he was even more pissed then later in the game when the opposing manager joe girardi requested the empire's check him again sherzer threw off his hat and glove then began undoing his belt and pants in the middle of the field he then began mocking the philly's manager for accusing him and inning later stared down the phillies the entire way as he walked off the field which then prompted giardi to come out of the dugout and start yelling at the nationals dugout who screened back while scherzer just stood there holding up his hat and glove to prove he was not using a foreign substance that same day sergio romo had a similar meltdown after he was checked for the first time when he literally undid his belt and lowered his pants in the middle of the field from the day these checks were announced until july 31 mlb saw the biggest drop in league-wide spin rate in history but starting in september spin rate started going back up prompting mlb to announce a new type of inspection that randomly checked pitcher's hands this was supposed to make it harder for pitchers to get away with using a substance but in reality now umpires just briefly touch a pitcher's palm and seem like they don't even care most of the time unless you're madison bumgarner he had been arguing with umpires throughout the entire inning so when the umpire checked him he got revenge by holding his hand and staring him down for a painfully awkward amount of time bumgarner eventually lost his mind yelled at him and got ejected after the game the umpire issued an apology these checks have turned into somewhat of a formality because despite obvious substances being used across the league umpires haven't caught a single player all year and according to many players this is a good thing pitchers across the league are complaining that without a sticky substance getting a grip on the ball is nearly impossible arguing that getting rid of foreign substances will lead to more hit by pitches which is already at all time highs just ask pete alonzo who got hit in the face in the very first game of 2022 the next day his teammate francis golden door also got hit in the face which caused the benches to clear the mets ended up getting hit five times in their first three games later that month the cardinals also hit them five times in three games to give the mets a league leading 19 hit by pitches in their first 20 games the mets finally retaliated by throwing a pitch close to nolan oronato's head who responded by yelling at the pitcher shoving the catcher out of the way charging the mound and forcing the benches to clear after the game mets pitcher chris bassett blamed the baseballs for the hit by pitches saying they were hard to grip and their manager buck showalter agreed saying that mob might have gone too far with cracking down on foreign substances until recently this was the general consensus around baseball hitters really didn't care if pitchers used a foreign substance because it gave pitchers a better grip and the chances of them getting hit were lower there's always been a rule against using foreign substances but umpires never enforced it unless it was blatantly obvious like joe negro who was caught using sandpaper to scuff up a ball when umpires checked him he tried to discreetly throw the paper away but everyone in the world saw it sandpaper is an extreme example of a foreign substance pictures using popular foreign substances like pine tar sunscreen and rosin and stickum have been a form of acceptable cheating throughout baseball history and even bryce harper as recent as 2018 said he had no problem with sticky substances because he quote didn't want to get hit in the face ironically in 2021 when sticky substitutes was at an all-time high he did get hit in the face and over the past five seasons as spin rates began increasing due to foreign substances hit by pitches have increased as well reaching all-time highs in 2020 and when mob cracked down on foreign substances in 2021 hit by pitches went down for the first time in seven years so unlike what people thought in the past foreign substances seem to increase the chances of a battery getting hit and the reason for this is because the foreign substances today are nothing like the foreign substances of the past traditional foreign substances like pine tar were used by pitchers for better grip and better control but newer foreign substances like spider tack are way stickier and are used for more spin rate and movement the more a pitch moves the more likely it is to hit a batter it also causes more walks more strikeouts and less hits but even though spin rates have significantly increased in 2022 surprisingly walks are down strikeouts are down and hits are up for the first time in 17 years this is exactly what mob wants and it means that even though pitchers are cheating again they seem to be doing it with traditional foreign substances that are not extremely sticky like spider tack so at the moment everybody's happy pitchers can use traditional foreign substances to get a better grip but walk strikeouts and hits are going in the direction mlb wants them to but will the lack of enforcement cause pitchers to go back to spider tech causing another foreign substance crackdown or did the foreign substance crackdown of 2021 work to perfection

Channel: Baseball Doesn't Exist

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Id: nI1B5n0mNV0

Length: 11min 55sec (715 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 02 2022