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Caleb Smith

Pirates, Caleb Smith Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Pirates are signing left-hander Caleb Smith to a minor league deal with a non-roster invitation to Spring Training, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). The Ballengee Group client had been non-tendered by the Diamondbacks at the start of the offseason.

Smith has spent the past two-plus seasons working as a swingman in the desert. Also a former Yankee and Marlin, the southpaw went from Miami to Arizona at the 2020 trade deadline in the deal that sent Starling Marte to Miami. He started three of four games for Arizona to close out the shortened season but worked primarily in long relief the next two years. Smith made 13 starts in 45 outings during the 2021 campaign and worked out of the bullpen for all but one of 44 appearances last summer.

In both years, the former 14th-round pick managed similar production. He allowed between four and five earned runs per nine innings in each, missing bats at a decent rate but struggling with both walks and home runs. Smith walked nearly 13% of opponents in each season with Arizona while allowing more than 1.5 home runs per nine.

That’s been a consistent theme throughout his big league career. Smith’s high-spin fastball generates a fair number of whiffs and infield pop-ups at the top of the strike zone, though that fly-ball approach has also translated into a decent number of round-trippers. Over parts of six big league campaigns, the 31-year-old has allowed 1.69 homers per nine en route to a 4.55 ERA.

Clubs have been continually intrigued by his ability to miss bats, however. He’s struck out just under a quarter of career opponents while generating swinging strikes on an above-average 12.2% of his offerings. Last year’s 21.5% strikeout rate represented a career low, though his swing-and-miss numbers on a per-pitch basis was right in line with his overall track record. The Pirates have one of the sport’s more favorable ballparks for pitchers, which could aid Smith in keeping the ball in the yard if he cracks the big league roster at any point.

Smith was diagnosed with a tear in the UCL of his throwing elbow last October. It wasn’t severe enough to necessitate Tommy John surgery, as he’s rehabbed the injury without going under the knife. The D-Backs didn’t provide any specifics on his recovery timetable, though the Pirates are sufficiently satisfied with the health of his elbow to bring him aboard.

Assuming he’s healthy enough to partake in Spring Training, Smith can battle for a bullpen job. Jarlín García is the only southpaw locked into the season-opening relief corps, though Rule 5 draftee Jose Hernandez will need to remain in the big league bullpen if the Pirates are intent on retaining his contractual rights.

Smith has been better against left-handed hitters than righties over the course of his career but not dramatically so. He profiles more as a long reliever or depth starter than as a situational matchup weapon. Smith has more than five years of MLB service time and can therefore refuse any minor league option, so if he cracks the MLB roster at any point, he’ll have to stick in the majors or be designated for assignment.

Which Remaining Free Agent Relievers Are Coming Off The Best Seasons?

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The offseason floodgates opened this month, with an avalanche of free agent activity once the Winter Meetings got underway. Things have quieted down in recent days thanks to the holidays, but clubs are likely to again get back to attacking the free agent market in earnest this week.

Most of the winter’s top names are off the board, leaving teams to mostly look through lower-cost options as they search for upgrades on the margins of the roster. There are still a number of experienced options available, particularly for teams seeking to round out the bullpen. Using MLBTR’s free agent list, we find 47 pitchers who tossed at least 20 innings out of a team’s bullpen in 2022 and remain unsigned.

We’ll sort the remaining free agent relievers by various metrics of 2022 performance to identify some of the top arms. There are obviously other factors for teams to consider — quality of raw stuff, pre-2022 track record, the player’s injury history, etc. — but a brief snapshot on the top bullpen arms by last year’s performance should provide a decent starting point for players teams might target moving forward. (All figures cited, including league averages, are looking solely at pitchers’ outings as relievers).

ERA (league average — 3.86)

  1. Matt Moore (LHP), 1.95
  2. Alex Young (LHP), 2.08
  3. Matt Wisler (RHP), 2.23
  4. Wily Peralta (RHP), 2.72
  5. Brad Hand (LHP), 2.80
  6. Andrew Chafin (LHP), 2.83
  7. David Phelps (RHP), 2.87
  8. Ralph Garza Jr. (RHP), 3.34
  9. Jackson Stephens (RHP), 3.38
  10. Michael Fulmer (RHP), 3.39

Strikeout rate (league average — 23.6%)

  1. Daniel Norris (LHP), 30%
  2. Darren O’Day (RHP), 27.7%
  3. Andrew Chafin, 27.6%
  4. Matt Moore, 27.3%
  5. Aroldis Chapman (LHP), 26.9%
  6. Steve Cishek (RHP), 25.8%
  7. Chasen Shreve (LHP), 25.4%
  8. Will Smith (LHP), 24.9%
  9. David Phelps, 23.9%
  10. Noé Ramirez, 23.7%

Strikeout/walk rate differential (league average — 14.5 percentage points)

  1. Andrew Chafin, 19.8 points
  2. Daniel Norris, 19 points
  3. Darren O’Day, 17 points
  4. Chasen Shreve, 16.7 points
  5. Steve Cishek, 16.4 points
  6. Craig Stammen (RHP), 15.7 points
  7. Will Smith, 15.3 points
  8. Matt Moore, 14.8 points
  9. Ross Detwiler (LHP), 14.8 points
  10. Luke Weaver (RHP), 13.8 points

Ground-ball rate (league average — 43.5%)

  1. Luis Perdomo (RHP), 62.5%
  2. Joe Smith (RHP), 57.5%
  3. Alex Young, 55.7%
  4. Alex Colomé (RHP), 55.6%
  5. T.J. McFarland (LHP), 53%
  6. Craig Stammen, 52.6%
  7. Garrett Richards (RHP), 52.4%
  8. Bryan Shaw (RHP), 51.8%
  9. Andrew Chafin, 51.3%
  10. Jacob Barnes (RHP), 50.7%

FIP (league average — 3.86)

  1. Luke Weaver, 2.46
  2. Alex Young, 2.65
  3. Matt Moore, 2.98
  4. Andrew Chafin, 3.06
  5. David Phelps, 3.11
  6. Garrett Richards, 3.16
  7. Jackson Stephens, 3.45
  8. Michael Fulmer, 3.57
  9. Brad Hand, 3.93
  10. Darren O’Day, 4.04

Innings Pitched

  1. Matt Moore, 74
  2. Caleb Smith (LHP), 69
  3. Steve Cishek, 66 1/3
  4. Michael Fulmer, 63 2/3
  5. David Phelps, 62 2/3
  6. Hunter Strickland (RHP), 62 1/3
  7. Will Smith, 59
  8. Andrew Chafin, 57 1/3
  9. Bryan Shaw, 54
  10. Jackson Stephens/Hirokazu Sawamura (RHP), 50 2/3 each

Diamondbacks Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Diamondbacks announced several roster moves in advance of tonight’s Rule 5 protection deadline. One of them was the previously reported acquisition of reliever Carlos Vargas from the Guardians. They also added infielder Blaze Alexander, outfielders Jorge Barrosa and Dominic Fletcher, as well as righty Justin Martinez to the 40-man roster. In corresponding moves, they designated four players for assignment: infielder Sergio Alcántara, left-hander Caleb Smith and outfielders Stone Garrett and Jordan Luplow.

Alcántara had two separate stints on the Arizona roster this past season, with a brief stay in San Diego intervening. He bounced around the waiver wire on the strength of his glove at shortstop. He didn’t provide much offensively, however, putting up a .220/.261/.356 line in 224 trips to the plate. That’s fairly similar to the .205/.303/.327 showing he had in 2021 as a member of the Cubs.

Garrett and Luplow each played similar roles in the desert, serving as right-handed complements to a primarily left-handed outfield. Garrett had more success, posting a .276/.309/.539 showing with four home runs and eight doubles in his first 27 MLB games. That came with a 3:27 walk-to-strikeout ratio, and Arizona’s front office clearly wasn’t bullish on his chances of replicating that kind of success. Garrett joined the organization on a minor league deal but had a decent season at Triple-A Reno and could find some interest on the waiver wire.

The Snakes acquired Luplow in a trade with the Rays last offseason. They’d hoped he could replicate his career track record of success against left-handed pitching, but the veteran outfielder didn’t meet those expectations. Through 234 plate appearances, he posted a .176/.274/.361 line, although he did connect on 11 round-trippers. That wasn’t enough to convince Arizona to keep him around on a projected $2MM arbitration salary, making today’s DFA something of an early non-tender.

That’s also true of Smith, who’d been projected for a $2.7MM salary for his final year of club control. The 31-year-old southpaw pitched 44 times and soaked up 70 innings out of the bullpen this year, posting a 4.11 ERA. He was diagnosed with a ligament tear in his throwing elbow after the season but is electing to rehab without surgery. A former starter with the Yankees and Marlins, Smith had spent the past two and a half years in Arizona.

Taking their places on the roster are Vargas, Alexander, Barrosa, Fletcher and Martinez. Alexander may be the most notable of the group. An 11th-round selection out of a Florida academy in 2018, he had an excellent season for Double-A Amarillo. In 363 plate appearances, the right-handed hitting infielder posted a .306/.388/.539 line with 17 home runs, earning a late-season bump to Reno. He’s played all throughout the infield and has an excellent arm. Baseball America considers him the #15 prospect in the Arizona system.

Fletcher went 75th overall out of the University of Arkansas in the 2019 draft. A lefty-hitting outfielder, he split the year between the D-Backs’ top two affiliates. Fletcher, the younger brother of Angels infielder David Fletcher, combined for a .312/.378/.486 showing with 35 doubles over 591 plate appearances. He can cover all three outfield spots and is the #14 prospect in the system according to BA.

Barrosa checks in 22nd on that list. He’s a switch-hitter who only struck out in 15.7% of his plate appearances with Amarillo this year. The 21-year-old from Venezuela stole 22 bases and hit .276/.374/.438 while playing primarily center field for the Sod Poodles. Martinez, a native of the Dominican Republic, returned from injury to work as a reliever this year. He traversed three minor league levels, topping out at Triple-A.

D-backs’ Caleb Smith Diagnosed With Ligament Tear In Elbow

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Diamondbacks lefty Caleb Smith has been a diagnosed with a ligament tear in his left elbow, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. However, after receiving multiple opinions on the injury, he’ll first opt for a rest-and-rehab approach rather than immediately undergoing Tommy John surgery, GM Mike Hazen tells Piecoro. The team has not provided a timetable for Smith’s potential recovery.

As with any tear, the possibility of eventual surgery will linger as Smith works through the rehab process. However, given the timing of the injury — Smith pitched in the D-backs’ final game of the season but departed with a trainer — he’d have been in line to miss the entire 2023 campaign even if he’d undergone surgery right away. If the tear is minimal enough that doctors feel he has a chance for it to heal without surgery, there’s little reason for him not to try the rehab route before going under the knife. That at least leaves the door open for him to pitch in 2023, and if he has surgery in a couple months’ time anyhow, he’d still be on track for an early 2024 return.

Regardless of whether he eventually requires surgery or is successful in rehabbing the tear, it’s quite possible that the ligament issue will bring an end to Smith’s tenure with the Diamondbacks organization. The 31-year-old southpaw is eligible for arbitration for the third and final time this winter, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him to receive a raise from $2MM to $2.7MM. With the specter of major surgery looming in a worst-case scenario and a presumably months-long rehab process on the docket even in a best-case scenario, Smith becomes an even clearer non-tender candidate than he already was.

Smith has had an up-and-down tenure in Arizona, splitting time between the bullpen and rotation with a few promising stretches but a general lack of consistency. He looked like a viable trade candidate for the D-backs early in the summer of 2021, pitching to a 3.08 ERA with a 26.9% strikeout rate (albeit against a bloated 11.6% walk rate)  in 64 1/3 innings. Smith, however, was blown up for an ERA north of 12.00 over his next six starts, causing him to lose the rotation spot he’d seized at the beginning of June.

A solid finish out of the bullpen in 2021 (2.70 ERA in 26 2/3 innings) kept Smith in the team’s plans and set the stage for him to occupy a bullpen role full-time in 2022. He gave the Snakes 70 innings of 4.11 ERA ball this past season but did so with the worst full-season strikeout and walk rates of his career (21.5% and 12.9%). Since his Aug. 2021 shift to the bullpen, Smith has a solid 3.72 ERA but lackluster marks in strikeout rate (21.5%), walk rate (12%), ground-ball rate (30.6%), homers per nine innings (1.68), FIP (5.28) and SIERA (4.60).

Diamondbacks Select Kevin Ginkel

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The D-Backs announced they’ve selected reliever Kevin Ginkel onto the major league roster before this evening’s game against the Guardians. They’ve also reinstated starter Zach Davies from the injured list and recalled designated hitter Seth Beer from Triple-A Reno. In a trio of active roster moves, they’ve placed left-hander Caleb Smith on the 15-day IL due to a hand fracture and optioned infielder Yonny Hernández and righty Corbin Martin.

Ginkel is joining the major league club for the first time this season. The righty was outrighted off the 40-man roster last November but stuck in the organization and has spent the season with Triple-A Reno. He’s excelled there, working to a sparkling 1.17 ERA across 30 2/3 innings. He’s punched out an excellent 36.6% of opposing hitters against a manageable 9.8% walk rate, numbers that eventually earned another deserved look in the big leagues.

The 28-year-old hasn’t had a ton of success at the MLB level to this point. He posted a 1.48 ERA through 25 appearances as a rookie in 2019, but he’d struggled over the past couple seasons. Ginkel owns just a 6.50 ERA in 51 outings since that point, with an elevated 13% walk percentage among the culprits for that lack of success. He’ll try to carry over his excellent upper minors showing against higher-level hitters and earn a long-term spot in the Arizona bullpen.

Davies returns after a bit more than a month on the IL due to shoulder soreness. The righty looked like a viable trade candidate after pitching to a 3.84 ERA through his first 15 starts on an affordable $1.75MM contract. Now that he’s back on the active roster, there’s at least some chance he attracts attention from contenders seeking rotation depth within the next 24 hours.

D-backs Set Rotation; Luke Weaver To Pitch Out Of Bullpen

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The Diamondbacks are moving right-handed starter Luke Weaver to a bullpen role to begin the season and will open the year with lefty Caleb Smith in the rotation in his place, manager Torey Lovullo announced to reporters Tuesday (Twitter links via Steve Gilbert of MLB.com and Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Arizona’s rotation to begin the season will be Madison Bumgarner, Merrill Kelly, Zach Davies, Smith and Zac Gallen.

Weaver, 28, has been used exclusively out of the rotation since coming over from the Cardinals alongside Carson Kelly, Andy Young and a Competitive Balance Draft selection in the trade that sent Paul Goldschmidt to St. Louis. As was the case in his short time with the Cardinals, who originally drafted him with the 27th overall pick back in 2014, Weaver has at times looked like a quality big league rotation piece but has struggled to stay healthy.

The only season in which Weaver has managed a full workload for the Diamondbacks was the shortened 2020 campaign, when he was rocked for an uncharacteristic 6.58 ERA in 52 innings over the life of 12 starts. Weaver posted a 2.94 ERA with brilliant strikeout and walk rates through a dozen starts in 2019, his first year with the Snakes, but also spent the bulk of the season on the injured list due to a forearm strain. In 2021, he turned in a solid 4.25 ERA with slightly worse (but still solid) strikeout and walk rates. A shoulder strain, however, kept him out from mid-May until September 1.

It’s of course possible that it’ll prove to be a short-term move to the bullpen for Weaver, but it’ll also be interesting to see whether a move to shorter stints will help him to remain healthy. Weaver’s fastball sat at an average of 93.7 mph last year while working as a starter, and it’s common for pitchers to see their velocity tick upward when moving to a relief role. Weaver also has fairly extreme splits when facing lineups for the second and third time in a game. When facing the lineup the first time through, he’s held opponents to a rather tepid .241/.297/.393 output.

As for the 30-year-old Smith, he’s no stranger to a rotation role. He pitched exclusively as a starter with the Marlins in 2018-19 and made 13 starts for Arizona last year, though the D-backs deployed him more heavily out of the bullpen in 2021. Smith has had more success pitching in relief in his career, with superior marks in ERA (3.45 to 4.90), walk rate (9.8% to 11.3%) and home run rate (1.15 per nine to 1.79 per nine) relative to his work as a starter. That said, Smith did pitch to a 4.41 ERA with a 26.3% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate in 230 2/3 innings as a member of the Marlins’ rotation in 2018-19.

Both Smith and Weaver have four-plus years of Major League service time and are thus controlled through the 2023 season. Given their relatively short amount of remaining club control, there could be trade speculation surrounding both this summer as the trade deadline approaches. However, Arizona recently extended two of its most popular trade candidates — Ketel Marte, Merrill Kelly — continuing to make an effort to put a competitive roster on the field as they await a wave of high-end prospects who are on the cusp of MLB readiness.

National League Non-Tenders: 11/30/21

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We’ve now passed the deadline for teams to tender contracts to pre-arb and arbitration-eligible players. We’ll keep track of the more minor players non-tendered in the National League here. The American League non-tenders are available at this link.

As a reminder, you can view MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projected salaries for arbitration-eligible players here:

  • The Cardinals announced they’ve non-tendered utilityman José Rondon. The right-handed hitting infielder tallied 90 plate appearances this past season while suiting up at a handful of position.
  • The Giants announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Luis González, right-hander Sam Delaplane and southpaw Joe Palumbo. None of that trio was arbitration-eligible, and all three were recently acquired via minor transactions. It wouldn’t be a surprise if San Francisco attempts to work out minor league pacts with one or more of that group now that they’ve been removed from the 40-man roster.
  • The Phillies have non-tendered southpaw Kyle Dohy and re-signed him to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. He’ll remain in the organization but no longer occupies a spot on the 40-man roster. Dohy made on major league appearance in 2021.
  • The Padres announced they’ve non-tendered relievers José Castillo, Trey Wingenter, and Matt Strahm. Castillo and Wingenter haven’t pitched since 2019 because of arm injuries that necessitated Tommy John surgeries. Strahm was limited to just 6 2/3 frames in 2021 by health issues himself.
  • The Cubs are non-tendering reliever Jason Adam, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The southpaw missed much of the season after suffering a gruesome ankle fracture in Triple-A in May, but he made a triumphant late-season return to the big leagues. Adam ultimately tossed 10 2/3 innings over 12 outings. Chicago also announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Michael Hermosillo, who made a late-season appearance on the big league roster.
  • The Mets have non-tendered outfielder Mark Payton, per a club announcement. The left-handed hitter was acquired from the Reds midseason but never suited up for New York at the major league level.
  • The Reds have non-tendered righty Brandon Bailey, per a team announcement. The 27-year-old made five appearances with the Astros in 2020. He missed all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, the second such procedure of his career. Bailey is re-signing on a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation but will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster, reports C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic.
  • The Nationals announced three non-tenders: relievers Wander Suero and Ryne Harper and first baseman Mike Ford. Suero is the most notable of the group, having been an effective set-up option at times during his four-season run in D.C. He struggled to a 6.33 ERA across 42 2/3 innings in 2021, though.
  • The Mets have non-tendered reliever Stephen Nogosek, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (on Twitter). The right-hander made just one three-inning appearance at the big league level in 2021. He worked 35 innings of 5.14 ERA ball with Triple-A Syracuse.
  • The Diamondbacks are non-tendering reliever Taylor Clarke, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). The 28-year-old has pitched with the D-Backs in each of the past three seasons. The left-hander worked to a 4.98 ERA over 43 1/3 innings this past season, showing solid control but posting a 20.1% strikeout rate that was about four percentage points below the league average mark for bullpen arms.
  • The Dodgers have non-tendered southpaw Andrew Vasquez, tweets Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. Vasquez wasn’t eligible for arbitration, but Los Angeles decided to bump him off the 40-man roster without placing him on waivers. Acquired in a minor trade with the Twins, Vasquez made two appearances for the Dodgers in early September. The 28-year-old struck out a massive 37.4% of batters faced in Triple-A in 2021.
  • The Pirates have non-tendered right-hander Chad Kuhl, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). A productive back-of-the-rotation arm at times, Kuhl has developed escalating control problems over the past couple seasons. The 29-year-old throws in the mid-90s and has posted decent strikeout numbers, but he’s coming off a 4.82 ERA/4.89 SIERA over 28 appearances (including 14 starts)
  • The Mets have non-tendered reliever Robert Gsellman, reports Tim Healey of Newsday (on Twitter). The right-hander has appeared with New York in each of the past six seasons, moving to the bullpen full-time in 2018. While Gsellman showed quite a bit of promise over seven starts as a rookie, he’s yet to find much consistent success in the years since. The 28-year-old did manage a solid 3.77 ERA with a 49.5% ground-ball rate over 28 2/3 innings in 2021, but he also missed a couple months because of a lat strain and only punched out 14.3% of batters faced.

NL Notes: Brewers, Tellez, Naquin, Smith

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Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader combined on Major League Baseball’s record-setting ninth official no-hitter of the season, as the Brewers recorded a 3-0 victory over the Indians.  Burnes struck out 14 Cleveland batters over eight dominant innings, though since Burnes amassed 115 pitches, Hader was brought in to finish things off with a perfect ninth inning.  It was the second no-hitter in Brewers franchise history, since Juan Nieves’ gem on April 15, 1987.

Baseball’s “Year Of The No-Hitter” hasn’t been kind to the Indians, who have now set a record by being no-hit three times in a single season.  Zach Plesac has been the Tribe’s starting pitcher for all three of those games, and Plesac matches Jim Perry as the only hurler in baseball history to be on the mound opposite three no-hitters in his career (let alone in a single season).

The latest from around the senior circuit…

  • It wasn’t a perfect night for the Brewers, as first baseman Rowdy Tellez left the game prior to the bottom of the second inning due to a knee injury.  Manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that Tellez has been bothered by the nagging injury for some time, and he will undergo an MRI tomorrow to determine the extent of the problem.  Acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays in early July, Tellez hit .265/.325/.464 with seven home runs over his first 166 plate appearances in a Milwaukee uniform.  Tellez has become the Brew Crew’s top first base option, though if he has to miss time on the injured list, the team can turn to a combination of Daniel Vogelbach, Eduardo Escobar, and Jace Peterson at first base.
  • A sixth-inning collision between Reds teammates Tyler Naquin and Jose Barrero resulted in Naquin leaving the game with bruised ribs.  Naquin and Barrero were both in pursuit of a short fly ball from the Cardinals’ Dylan Carlson, but the ball eluded the duo in painful fashion, resulting in an RBI double for Carlson.  In positive news, Reds manager David Bell told reporters (including C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic) that there weren’t any concerns that either Naquin or Barrero suffered a concussion.  The Reds don’t play on Monday, so it seems likely that Naquin will get two full days off to recuperate, and it remains to be seen if the injured list will ultimately be required.
  • Caleb Smith lost the appeal of his 10-game suspension, and began serving that suspension today.  The Diamondbacks southpaw was hit with the 10-game ban after umpires discovered a foreign substance on his glove during an August 18 game.  Smith strongly protested his ejection from the game and subsequent suspension, though his appeal didn’t result in a change of the league’s initial decision.  Smith has a 5.04 ERA/4.68 SIERA over 105 innings this season, moving between Arizona’s rotation and bullpen amidst a lot of control problems.

MLB Reportedly Exploring Prototypes Of Pre-Tacked Baseballs

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Major League Baseball recently sent out prototypes of a pre-tacked baseball for player feedback, reports Hannah Keyser of Yahoo! Sports. Mets starting pitcher Rich Hill tells Keyser New York’s players received the prototypes a week and a half ago.

It’s not much of a surprise to hear the league is in the early stages of trying to develop a pre-tacked ball. MLB’s mid-June enforcement of the prohibition on pitchers’ usage of foreign substances provoked plenty of immediate backlash among players. Rays starter Tyler Glasnow hypothesized that the foreign substance crackdown contributed to a subsequent elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. Others speculated that taking away grip enhancers could put hitters at risk by making them more susceptible to being hit by pitches.

Over the past few months, the league has proceeded with foreign substance checks without too much incident, though. The concern about hits-by-pitch, at least, doesn’t seem to be founded. Through games on June 20, the leaguewide HBP rate checked in at 1.15%. Since June 21 — the date on which the league began foreign substance checks — that rate is 1.20%.

Offense has also improved a bit. Through games on June 20, non-pitchers were hitting .243/.318/.409 with a 23.2% strikeout rate. Since the first day of enforcement, that’s up to .253/.326/.428 with a 22% strikeout percentage. It’s not quite that simple — offense always picks up as the weather warms during the summer months, so that’s surely at play here — but it’s fair to presume MLB is generally happy with how the first few months of enforcement have played out.

That’s not to say everything has gone entirely without issue. Diamondbacks left-hander Caleb Smith became the second player to be suspended for a foreign substance violation earlier this week. Smith is appealing that ban, but it seems unlikely he’ll have much success. MLB Rule 6.02(d) prohibits players from applying rosin — an otherwise legal grip enhancer — to their glove. Smith denied using an illicit substance after being ejected from last Wednesday’s game, but his suspension could still be upheld if rosin is detected on his glove.

Suspending a player for having an otherwise permissible substance on his glove doesn’t seem to be the intent of the league’s crackdown, which was designed to root out more powerful grip enhancers (i.e. Spider Tack) used to improve the quality of a pitcher’s repertoire. Unsurprisingly, Smith’s agent Scott Lonergan of Ballengee Group was critical of the prohibition of rosin on players’ gloves. Speaking with Zach Buchanan of the Athletic, Lonergan expressed support for the overall foreign substance crackdown but called the rosin-on-glove provision of Rule 6.02(d) “too black and white as it stands” and said a Smith suspension would “unfairly (catch him) in the web of Major League Baseball trying to clean up the game.”

While Smith has been adamant he didn’t use any prohibited substances, it does seem there’s an ongoing concern about some pitchers using foreign substances without detection. Eno Sarris of the Athletic notes that inning-by-inning variance in pitcher spin rates is up significantly this month relative to immediately after the start of inspections. In other words, pitchers’ spin rates are fluctuating more between innings within one game than they have in the past. That’s not true of every hurler in MLB, of course, but there’s a notable increase in spin rate variance from a league-wide perspective.

Sarris speculates that could reflect some pitchers’ continued use of foreign substances, albeit more judiciously. For instance, a pitcher who passed an inspection early in an appearance could apply the substance after that inning, reasoning that he likely won’t be checked again until a few frames later on. That’s a speculative explanation, but it could require vigilance from MLB if they’re to continue to clamp down on foreign substances. (Sarris’ piece is well worth a full look for Athletic subscribers).

Settling on a pre-tacked ball could be the cleanest way for MLB to permanently address the sticky stuff issue. If the league can approve a ball that pitchers find easy to grip but which doesn’t meaningfully enhance spin, that could obviate the need for a rosin bag and perhaps decrease the advantage to be gained for pitchers who use the most powerful grip enhancers.

Both Japan’s NPB and South Korea’s KBO use a form of pre-tacked ball already. The specifications for the baseball in those leagues are different than those of MLB, however, as Lindsey Adler, Britt Ghiroli and Sarris explored at the Athletic last month. MLB unsuccessfully experimented with a pre-tacked ball in that mold (albeit with modifications to meet MLB specifications) back in Spring Training of 2019. Finding a suitable pre-tacked ball could be easier said than done, then, but MLB has apparently set out on that goal again in the hope of designing something more agreeable to players this time around.

Caleb Smith Suspended Ten Games For Foreign Substance Violation

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Major League Baseball announced that Diamondbacks left-hander Caleb Smith has been suspended for ten games and fined an undisclosed amount “for possessing a foreign substance on his glove” during last Wednesday’s game against the Phillies. Smith is appealing the suspension. (Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported the news before the official announcement).

Smith was ejected from Wednesday’s game after a foreign substance check at the end of the eighth inning. The 30-year-old had passed a substance inspection earlier in the contest and vehemently denied that he used an illicit substance after the game. Smith is the second player ejected after a substance inspection. Mariners left-hander Héctor Santiago, who was ejected by the same umpiring crew that tossed Smith, unsuccessfully appealed his suspension and ultimately had to serve a ten-game ban in June.

Unless Smith’s suspension is overturned on appeal, the D-Backs will eventually have to play a man short. Players suspended for foreign substance violations cannot be replaced on the active or 40-man rosters.

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