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Major League Baseball entered the 2023 season attempting to refocus on pitchers' usage of sticky stuff. MLB held meetings during spring training, and sources told The Athletic "that message emerged loud and clear." According to the report, this would include more thorough inspections by umpires, more random inspections, and checking players' caps, gloves, and belts. Overall, MLB is responding to an uptick in spin rates since the initial crackdown in 2021.
On Saturday, the umpire crew in the Twins-Yankees contest had an opportunity to enforce those rules, but it could have gone better for Minnesota. Domingo German had just completed three perfect innings when he was asked to undergo a routine check. Many Yankees players and coaches crowded around the umpire crew during the check that went on for an extended time. Eventually, the crew chief James Hoye was seen on camera saying, "You have to wash your hands."
That could have ended the situation, but it continued from there. German came back out for the fourth inning, and the umpires weren't satisfied with how well he had cleaned his hands. Twins radio announcer Cory Provus pointed out that the umpire clearly said, "I told you to wipe it off." German was allowed to stay in the game, which upset the Twins' dugout.
Rocco Baldelli approached the umpires following the second check and told reporters he had no plans to return to the dugout. He didn't accuse German of using an illegal substance but said that the pitcher should have been ejected for returning to the game with a substance still on his hand.
"He was warned. He didn't fully comply, I would say, with the warning, from what I was told, and was still allowed to keep pitching. That's it. I just don't agree with that in principle..." Baldelli said after the game. "When he comes back, doesn't comply with what he was asked to do, has something on his hand that he shouldn't. . . and then he casually can just walk to the mound and keep pitching, it kind of goes against a lot of the things that we've talked about this year and some of the adjustments we're making in baseball. I was upset at it, and that's it."
After the game, the umpiring crew told reporters that they believed the substance was rosin, which isn't illegal. That is why German was not ejected from the game. German's performance was arguably the best of his career. He struck out a career-high 11 batters in 6 1/3 innings while retiring the first 16 batters he faced. That stretch of batters lined up when his hands likely had the sticky substance on them. After being told to wash, his spin rates dropped on all his pitches while also seeing an increase in velocity.
Hoye is scheduled to be behind the plate for Sunday's contest, which features Pablo Lopez going against Gerrit Cole. Cole has been accused of using sticky substances in the past, so it will be intriguing to see how closely both starters are watched in Sunday's series finale. German's sticky hands were the talk of baseball on Saturday, and fans can wait to see if MLB has a more significant response to the sticky situation.
Will MLB have any response? Will there be any fallout in Sunday's game? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.
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