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Robert Suarez Appealing 10-Game Foreign Substance Suspension

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August 25: Suarez has received the expected 10-game suspension, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, but is appealing.

August 23: Padres reliever Robert Suarez was ejected from this afternoon’s win over the Marlins following a foreign substance inspection. Called on to pitch the top of the eighth, Suarez was thrown out before throwing a pitch when umpires examined him coming in from the bullpen.

First base umpire Todd Tichenor made the call. After the game, Tichenor told reporters that the right-hander’s left wrist had been “too sticky, very sticky” (via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). Suarez denied using any illicit substance, saying he’d simply applied his typical amount of sunscreen for a day game in San Diego.

Pitchers ejected after a foreign substance check are subject to an automatic 10-game suspension. MLB will presumably formally announce Suarez’s ban tomorrow. He has an appellate right, though an appeal would go in front of an MLB official for adjudication. As a result, the three players previously suspended for foreign substances this season — Max Scherzer, Domingo Germán and Drew Smith — all waived their appeals. Suarez said he hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll do the same.

In all likelihood, the Friars will be without one of their better high-leverage arms for the next week and a half. Suarez posted a 2.27 ERA in 47 2/3 frames last season and subsequently re-signed on a five-year, $46MM free agent guarantee. He missed the first half of this year with an elbow injury. He has allowed seven runs in 13 1/3 innings since returning. Teams aren’t allowed to replace players who have been suspended for an on-field rules violation, so the Padres would have to play with a 25-man roster for the duration of Suarez’s expected suspension.

Mets’ Drew Smith Issued 10-Game Suspension For Foreign Substance Violation

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TODAY: The league officially announced that Smith has been suspended for 10 games, and will be fined.  According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Smith won’t file an appeal, so his 10-game absence begins with tonight’s game against the Yankees.

JUNE 13: Mets reliever Drew Smith was ejected by first base umpire Bill Miller in the seventh inning of tonight’s matchup with the Yankees. Smith had been called upon to enter the game but was tossed before throwing a pitch after umpires checked him for foreign substances.

Smith is the third pitcher of the season to be ejected for foreign substances, each of whom has come from the two teams involved in tonight’s contest. Mets ace Max Scherzer was thrown out of a start in April, while Yankees starter Domingo Germán was ejected last month.

A foreign substance ejection comes with an automatic 10-game suspension. It’s likely MLB will formally levy that ban on Smith tomorrow. The righty will have the ability to appeal, though that would be heard by a league official. Neither Scherzer nor Germán pursued an appeal; both pitchers served out the suspension before returning to the roster.

Players suspended for an on-field rules violation cannot be replaced on the roster. Assuming Smith is indeed suspended, the Mets will have to play with a 25-man roster for a week and a half.

They’ll also be down one of their better high-leverage arms. The 29-year-old has a 4.18 ERA across 23 2/3 innings. He’d posted a 3.33 mark through 46 frames last year, however, and he’s striking hitters out at an above-average 27.7% clip. Smith has picked up a pair of saves and held eight more leads this year.

Max Scherzer Given 10-Game Suspension; Will Not Appeal

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7:53pm: In a surprising twist, Scherzer informed reporters this evening he’s elected not to appeal after all (video provided by SNY). The right-hander said he’d initially believed an appeal would be heard by a neutral arbitrator but later was informed it would go in front of an MLB official. (Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic specifies that special assistant to the commissioner John McHale would have heard the appeal.) As a result, Scherzer conceded he wouldn’t win and has elected not to pursue it.

He’ll begin serving his ban tonight and is ineligible to return until May 1. Because Scherzer was suspended for an on-field rules violation, the Mets are not permitted to replace him on the active roster. They’ll roll with 25 players for the remainder of the month.

6:56pm: Major League Baseball announced Thursday evening that Mets star Max Scherzer has been suspended for ten games for “violating the prohibitions on foreign substances.” He was also fined an undisclosed amount, which Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports at $10K (Twitter link).

Foreign substance ejections come with an automatic ten-game suspension, so this has seemed likely since Scherzer was thrown out of yesterday’s start against the Dodgers. Scherzer stated after yesterday’s game that he’d appeal any suspension. Heyman tweets this evening that he plans to do so. Scherzer has been adamant he was only using legally-permissible rosin, swearing on the life of his children in the process. Umpires Phil Cuzzi and Dan Bellino, however, explained after the game that Scherzer’s hand was stickier than any other they had inspected previously.

Bellino opined that Scherzer had used “something likely more than rosin” based on its stickiness. MLB’s announcement reflected a similar sentiment. “Based on the umpires’ training to detect rosin on a pitcher’s hands, they concluded that the level of stickiness during the fourth inning check was so extreme that it was inconsistent with the use of rosin and/or sweat alone,” the league wrote. MLB’s press release says umpires “appropriately ejected Mr. Scherzer from the game” at that point.

While the league apparently believes Scherzer applied an illicit substance other than rosin, its press release also points to another potential justification for the ejection/suspension. MLB points out that it sent a memo to clubs during Spring Training reminding that “when used excessively or otherwise misapplied (i.e., to gloves or other parts of the uniform), rosin may be determined by the umpires to be a prohibited foreign substance, the use of which may subject a player to ejection and discipline.” Whether because of the umpiring crew’s determination Scherzer had used a non-rosin sticky substance or the possibility the three-time Cy Young winner applied too much of the otherwise permissible rosin, the league imposed discipline.

It was reported back in June 2021 the league was planning to crack down on the use of “sticky stuff” that pitchers use to improve their grip on the baseball but also to increase spin rates. Two players were suspended not too long after that, with Héctor Santiago of the Mariners getting hit later that same month, followed by Caleb Smith of the Diamondbacks in August. No suspensions were handed out last year, but it was reported in February the league was planning to further crack down this year.

Scherzer declined comment when speaking with Mets’ reporters this evening. He said only that his camp is “working on it” in reference to fighting the ban (relayed by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). There’s sure to be more clarity on the appeals process over the next few days.

If Scherzer indeed has to sit out for a week and a half, it’ll deal another hit to a rotation already down Justin Verlander, José Quintana and Carlos Carrasco to injury. That has pushed David Peterson and Tylor Megill into the starting five alongside Kodai Senga and previously necessitated a spot start from José Butto.

Skipper Buck Showalter told reporters tonight that left-hander  Joey Lucchesi will be recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to start tomorrow’s game against the Giants (via Mike Puma of the New York Post). It’ll represent Lucceshi’s first MLB action in nearly two years. He lost all of last season to Tommy John surgery.

Scherzer, Boras, Umpires Discuss Foreign Substance Ejection

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The sticky stuff crackdown returned to the forefront of MLB attention this afternoon. Mets ace Max Scherzer was ejected after three innings in today’s contest against the Dodgers. An agitated Scherzer was thrown out by crew chief Phil Cuzzi after an extended conversation and inspection of his hands (video provided by Fox Sports MLB).

Failed foreign substance checks come with an automatic 10-game suspension. MLB hasn’t officially levied any discipline to this point, though it’s widely expected the eight-time All-Star will be hit with a suspension. Scherzer told reporters after the game he planned to appeal if suspended (via Bob Nightengale of USA Today).

Scherzer proclaimed his innocence, saying umpires had only detected a combination of sweat and permissible rosin (relayed by Steve Gelbs of SNY). “I said I swear on my kids’ life I’m not using anything else. This is sweat and rosin, sweat and rosin. I keep saying it over and over.” Scherzer added that he anticipated a substance check before the fourth inning, saying he’d “have to be an absolute idiot” to apply anything else.

The three-time Cy Young winner said his hand had gotten “clumpy” with rosin during the second inning. That’s apparently not atypical, as Cuzzi told the pitcher to wash his hand. Scherzer was adamant he washed it with alcohol and changed his glove before reapplying rosin headed into the fourth.

Scherzer’s agent Scott Boras predictably came to his defense. In a statement to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter), Boras attacked what he perceived as umpire subjectivity. “MLB standards and rules enforcement should mandate and require an objective verifiable standard,” Boras said. “If you want to attack the integrity of the competition, you need clear precise standards (or) else you damage the game and its players. The Cuzzi on field spectrometer is not the answer. MLB needs to employ available scientific methods (not subjective) to create verifiable certainly of its rules.”

Cuzzi and home plate umpire Dan Bellino defended their actions after the game. “This was the stickiest [a hand] has been since I’ve been inspecting hands, which goes back three seasons,” Bellino said (via Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times). “It was so sticky that when we touched his hand, our fingers were sticking to his hand.” He went on to call it “far more than we have ever seen before on a pitcher in live action” and noted that umpires are aware of the consequences for pitchers ejected for foreign substances, implying they don’t take lightly the expected suspension in making that decision (transcribed by Mike Puma of the New York Post).

Cuzzi made a similar argument, saying Scherzer’s hand was “far stickier than anything that we felt certainly today and anything this year. And so in that case, we felt as though he had two chances to clean it up and he didn’t” (relayed by Tim Healey of Newsday). Bellino called it “something likely more than rosin” in his judgment (thread via Jesse Rogers of ESPN). “We know what the rosin typically feels like on a pitcher’s hand because everyone is using the same rosin bag,” he added. Rogers notes that while rosin itself is not a banned substance, it can be impermissible if used excessively or misapplied.

Drawing that line presents a judgment call for an umpiring crew. Scherzer’s ejection was the first for a failed substance check since the end of the 2021 campaign. Yankees righty Domingo Germán had a close call during a start against the Twins last week, when umpires twice warned him for using too much rosin (link via Dan Hayes of the Athletic). Germán was allowed to stay in the game after washing the rosin to the umpiring crew’s satisfaction. That displeased Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, who was ejected for arguing against Germán being allowed to continue. Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts said that Los Angeles did not request any of the glove inspections in Scherzer’s case (via Rowan Kavner of Fox Sports).

It’s only the beginning of what figures to be a notable saga if/when MLB levies a suspension. In suspensions for violations of on-field rules, clubs are required to play a man short while the ban is being served. The Mets already have three starters — Justin Verlander, José Quintana and Carlos Carrasco — on the injured list.

MLB To Test Another Pre-Tacked Ball In Southern League

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Major League Baseball will test another version of a pre-tacked ball in the Double-A Southern League this season, reports Hannah Keyser of Yahoo! Sports. The league has floated the idea of “enhanced grip” baseballs for a few seasons.

Various iterations of pre-tacked balls have been tested in Spring Training, the Arizona Fall League, and at different levels of the minors in recent years. Those experiments took on increased urgency during the 2021 campaign, when MLB enforced a midseason crackdown on the ban on grip-altering foreign substances.

The foreign substance ban came in response to increasing spin rates, as MLB determined too many pitchers were using grip enhancers to improve the raw quality of their stuff as opposed to “merely” aiding control. The crackdown wasn’t without criticism, however, with one prevalent concern being hitter safety if pitchers had less feel for the ball. In an effort to address those fears, MLB has sought prototypes that allow pitchers an improved grip without artificially creating dramatically more pitch movement.

Last June, Evan Drellich of the Athletic reported that MLB had kicked around a pair of pre-tracked prototypes in the Double-A Southern and Texas Leagues. However, Keyser writes those experiments were scrapped relatively early on after it became clear those solutions were unsatisfactory. MLB has made unspecified changes in response to player feedback to create a new iteration that’ll be tested this year. According to Keyser, the Southern League will use the pre-tacked ball for the first half of the season before going back to the standard ball — which is manually mudded prior to games — for the second half of the year. MLB will compare the two halves’ data and decide whether the prototype warrants further experimentation.

It’s unclear whether MLB will be able to create a pre-tacked ball it deems sufficient for major league use. For now, they’ll continue tinkering in the minors with an eye towards potential implementation at the highest level far down the line.

MLB Planning To Reemphasize Enforcement On Foreign Substances

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League officials are informing teams this spring that umpires are being encouraged to more diligently monitor pitchers for foreign substances, reports Jayson Stark of the Athletic. It’ll involve more thorough checks on pitchers as part of MLB’s quest to enforce the ban on sticky stuff.

That crackdown came in response to concern among league officials (and some players) that pitchers were using increasingly complex substances to enhance their grip on the baseball. The league’s rationale was that many pitchers had gone beyond the long accepted practice of using substances like rosin to maintain control of the ball and were instead using sticky stuff as a means of artificially enhancing the quality of their arsenals by increasing spin and movement. The crackdown came in response to league concerns about the ever-increasing rise of strikeouts in the sport.

The substance checks led to some controversy early on, with pitchers like Tyler Glasnow and Garrett Richards blasting MLB’s decision to implement it midway through the 2021 season. Within a few weeks, however, the focus on those checks generally faded into the background. Umpires continued to inspect every pitcher (some hurlers multiple times within a game) but there were only two ejections for pitchers whom umpires determined violated the foreign substance rule during the 2021 season. There wasn’t a single ejection related to a failed foreign substance check last year, although D-Backs southpaw Madison Bumgarner was thrown out for insulting umpire Dan Bellino during an inspection (an ejection for which Bellino later apologized).

The process came back to the forefront on the national stage last fall when Mets manager Buck Showalter requested umpires examine Padres starter Joe Musgrove during the deciding game of the clubs’ Wild Card Series. Musgrove passed the inspection, remained in the game, and finished with seven scoreless innings to lead San Diego to a clinching win.

While the Musgrove incident ultimately turned out to be inconsequential, the league apparently has concerns that pitchers have found ways around the substance checks in general. Eno Sarris of the Athletic noted last September that league spin rates on four-seam fastballs had risen throughout the 2022 campaign after an initial precipitous decline upon the start of inspections in mid-summer 2021. According to Stark, the league has token note of that trend. MLB had expressed similar concerns about a rise in spin rate last Spring Training, but league officials’ plans to enhance enforcement last season evidently didn’t have the desired effect.

Stark writes that umpires are expected to again examine pitcher equipment like hats and belts, a process they used in 2021 but shied away from last season as they focused more attention on players’ hands. Stark adds that checks of pitchers’ hands — which obviously will also continue — are expected to be more thorough than they had been and that umpires could potentially conduct mid-inning checks if they identify a reason to believe the pitcher could be using a foreign substance.

Whether the tighter enforcement will have any tangible effects on gameplay in 2023 remains to be seen. It comes as part of the league’s ongoing efforts to increase the number of balls in play. MLB is implementing various rule changes (i.e. infield shift limitations, larger bases, a pitch clock) with an eye towards decreasing whiffs and/or accelerating pace of play.

MLB Has Tested Pre-Tacked Baseballs In Double-A This Season

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JUNE 10: In a follow-up tweet last night, Drellich noted it’s no longer clear whether MLB plans to carry out the second part of the testing process later in the season as they’d initially intended. He adds that the league halted the experiment in the Southern League after just two weeks for reasons unclear.

JUNE 9: Major League Baseball has been testing a pair of tacky substances in the Texas and Southern Leagues — two of the three Double-A levels — during the season, reports Evan Drellich of the Athletic. It’s the continuation of ongoing league efforts to find an improved grip substance for pitchers.

Drellich provides a breakdown of the experiment. For the first two months of the year, a substance from one of two different manufacturers has been applied to the baseballs. The league is now pivoting to treating the balls with mud, the standard process used at the MLB level, as a control group. That control testing will be with the standard Major League ball, which is different than the ball typically used up through Double-A. The second manufacturer’s substance will be tested at some point later in the year.

The testing in Double-A comes on the heels of other fairly recent experiments about applying a universal grip enhancer to the ball. Baseball America reported last September that MLB would introduce a pre-tacked prototype ball in certain Triple-A games late in the 2021 season, and Drellich writes that one of the substances currently under consideration was first introduced during last year’s Arizona Fall League. Commissioner Rob Manfred has previously expressed support for the possibility of a pre-tacked ball eventually being implemented at the major league level.

Sticky stuff hasn’t been as prevalent a topic this season as it was last year, when MLB implemented a midseason crackdown on pitcher use of foreign substances. The league had long banned the application of foreign substances — outside of the provided rosin bag — to the ball, but it had previously left ball-doctoring largely unenforced in practice. As more pitchers began to use particularly powerful grip enhancers to meaningfully improve the spin and movement on their pitches, however, the league began a sometimes controversial system of enforcement last June.

After an initial few weeks of some dispute, however, the foreign substance checks largely faded into the rearview mirror. Two pitchers — Héctor Santiago and Caleb Smith — were suspended last season for failing substance checks, but there wasn’t any overwhelming rash of discipline. Sports Illustrated reported this spring that MLB worried that pitchers might’ve found a way to skirt the enforcement later in the year and planned to conduct more rigorous screenings this season. Through the first two months of 2022, however, no pitchers have been ejected or suspended for a foreign substance violation.

Despite the crackdown, the league has looked for ways to introduce a more moderate grip enhancer that could aid pitchers’ control of the ball without dramatically improving the quality of their stuff. MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword tells Drellich they’re continuing to search for a viable grip enhancer but don’t consider altering the ball an absolute must.

“We have a ball that has served the sport well for decades and we have taken a number of steps to make the baseball the most consistent it has ever been,” Sword said. “While we continue to explore solutions to add tackiness without materially increasing spin rates, it’s a very hard thing to get right, and we have set a very high bar for success.”

The primary impetus for the league’s increased diligence in rooting out foreign substances has been a downturn in balls in play that MLB and many observers find alarming. The league strikeout rate has risen throughout essentially its entire history, but it’s taken a particularly sharp upward turn over the past decade or so. Improved pitch quality is no doubt a contributor to the uptick in swing-and-miss, and the league has looked for ways to push some of the balance back in hitters’ favor.

MLB has dealt with more concerns about offense this season, although swing-and-miss issues have leveled off somewhat. The league strikeout rate sits at 22.2% entering play Thursday, down a percentage point from last season and 1.2 points from 2019-20’s record high. MLB’s 76.6% contact rate — on what percentage of swings a batter makes contact — is up slightly from last season’s 76.1% and a fair bit better than the 75.3% mark of 2020.

Nevertheless, league run-scoring has fallen alongside a drop in power production. Foreign substance usage is one of a myriad of factors that affects the league offense, of course. Such things as weather, the composition/storage of the ball, the implementation of the universal designated hitter, and hitters’ approach and mechanics all have their own impact on run-scoring and style of play.

Drellich writes that the early returns on the substances currently being tested in Double-A have drawn substantial pushback from some of the league’s players and coaches. One pitcher called the first substance tested “horrible,” while another indicated he and his teammates were excited about the return of the standard mudding process for the control part of the testing. An MLB official acknowledged that the newer substances “are popular with some and not popular with others, just like our current ball is popular with some and not others.”

The varied at best feedback illustrates the challenges MLB continues to face in potentially introducing a tackier ball to the highest level. One league official tells Drellich that while the league isn’t ruling out the possibility of introducing a pre-tacked ball to MLB by 2023, it doesn’t seem likely to be viable by that point. The league and MLB Players Association have remained in contact about the experiment, Drellich writes, and the league presumably would prefer to have the union’s cooperation in any efforts to implement it in the majors. (Minor league players are not unionized and have little recourse to push back against any of the rule experiments being conducted at affiliates).

The Athletic’s post is well worth a read in full for those interested in the topic. Drellich speaks with various players, league officials, player development personnel and others about the challenges and complications of the testing.

MLB Tightening Crackdown On Foreign Substances

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Major League Baseball’s efforts to root out pitchers’ usage of foreign substances was one of the biggest stories in the sport last summer. Beginning in early June, the league made clear that it was planning to crack down on grip enhancers, concerned pitchers were using sticky stuff to enhance the quality of their raw arsenals as opposed to merely trying to improve their control.

That decision wasn’t without backlash. Rays ace Tyler Glasnow claimed the timing of the midseason enforcement contributed to an injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. Phillies manager Joe Girardi and then-Nationals star Max Scherzer had an on-field squabble after Girardi asked for umpires to check Scherzer. A pair of pitchers — Héctor Santiago and Caleb Smith — were suspended for ten games apiece.

However, the foreign substance controversy mostly faded from public view after the first few weeks of its enforcement. Umpires continued to examine pitchers’ hats, gloves and belts frequently, but Smith was the only pitcher to fail a substance check in the second half of the season.

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated reports that MLB sent a memo to teams today informing them that foreign substance inspections will become more rigorous this season. Beginning with Spring Training contests this weekend, umpires will check pitchers’ hands directly, according to the memo. They may also continue to examine players’ equipment. Starting pitchers will be checked between random innings, while every reliever will be inspected at least once, as was the case last season.

Verducci obtains a copy of the memo, quoting MLB senior vice president of baseball operations Michael Hill as saying “If an umpire’s inspection reveals that the pitcher’s hand is unquestionably sticky or shows unmistakable signs of the presence of a foreign substance, the umpire will conclude that the pitcher was applying a foreign substance to the baseball for the purpose of gaining an unfair competitive advantage.” As was the case last season, that’d lead to an automatic ejection and suspension.

Position players aren’t subject to foreign substance inspections, but they would also be ejected and suspended if found to be harboring sticky stuff for pitchers. Verudcci writes that the league is tightening inspections in response to a fear that pitchers began carrying foreign substances on areas of their body besides their hat, belt and glove late last season. He notes that leaguewide fastball and slider spin rates and velocity-adjusted spin rates starting to trend upwards late in the year (albeit not to pre-enforcement levels) after falling dramatically in the immediate aftermath of the crackdown. Directly examining the pitcher’s hand should theoretically make it harder to skirt the substance checks and curtail whatever portion of that increase was due to pitcher subversion of the sticky stuff ban.

There remains the possibility that foreign substance checks won’t need to be as prevalent at some point in the future. MLB began to test pre-tacked baseballs in the minors late last season. In November, commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters the pre-tacked ball could be put in circulation during regular season action at some point in 2022.

Rob Manfred Discusses Possibility Of A Lockout

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The current collective bargaining agreement expires in less than two weeks, with the possibility of an offseason freeze looming. If a new deal isn’t agreed upon when the current one wraps up at 11:59 pm EST on December 1, the general expectation within the industry is that owners will lock the players out — resulting in a ban on transactions until another agreement is reached.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the state of the labor situation when speaking with reporters (including Evan Drellich of the Athletic and Jeff Passan of ESPN) this afternoon. The commissioner stopped short of calling a lockout an inevitability, but he certainly seemed to suggest that course of action was on the table. Manfred drew a distinction between the impact a winter transactions freeze would have on the sport versus that of a work stoppage that lingers into next season.

“I can’t believe there’s a single fan in the world who doesn’t understand that an offseason lockout that moves the process forward is different than a labor dispute that costs games,” he said. As to whether the sides still had hope of hammering out a new CBA before December 1, Manfred said the league was “committed to continuing to offer proposals and suggestions in an effort to get to an agreement before” that date, but acknowledged that “time is becoming an issue.”

Technically, the expiration of the CBA wouldn’t necessitate a lockout. As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes explored in August, the sides continued to conduct offseason business during the last winters (1993-94 and 94-95) that proceeded without a CBA in place. The players went on strike when no agreement was reached during the 1994 season, and that year’s World Series was eventually cancelled.

Manfred implied the league wouldn’t want to run the risk of negotiating without an agreement this time around, pointing to the ’94 strike and trends in other professional sports leagues as justification. “I don’t think ’94 worked out too great for anybody,” Manfred said. “I think when you look at other sports, the pattern has become to control the timing of the labor dispute and try to minimize the prospect of actual disruption of the season. That’s what it’s about: It’s avoiding doing damage to the season.”

The commissioner’s comments come amidst a background of a very slow back-and-forth between the league and Players Association. The MLBPA has made two core economics proposals over the past six months; the league has made just one, although it made an alteration to its August offer last week. It doesn’t seem there’s been much progress on economics issues, with the MLBPA pursuing such goals as raised luxury tax thresholds and earlier arbitration eligibility. The league, meanwhile, has pushed for lowered luxury tax markers and an age-based system for free agency eligibility that could delay the path to the open market for the game’s brightest stars, among other things.

While much of Manfred’s focus was unsurprisingly on the core economic structure of the game, he also touched on a few other topics. The commissioner expressed optimism about the league’s ongoing testing of pre-tacked baseballs, suggesting they hoped to test the prototype in Spring Training 2022. Manfred didn’t rule out the possibility of using a pre-tacked ball in regular season games at some point next season. He also voiced support for the possibility of a pitch clock being implemented in upcoming CBA talks, saying that “owners remain very interested in” introducing a clock at the major league level after testing it in minor league games for years.

Manfred also addressed the respective stadium situations in Tampa Bay and Oakland. He again suggested Las Vegas could be a viable landing spot for the A’s if they’re unable to work out a deal in the Bay Area. Manfred confirmed that the Rays have made a proposal to the league’s executive committee regarding the franchise’s hopes for splitting home games between Tampa and Montreal. (John Romano of The Tampa Bay Times explored the issue at greater length earlier in the week). The executive committee has yet to weigh in on the topic, Manfred said this afternoon.

Finally, the league announced the previously-reported decision to provide housing for minor league players in 2022. Josh Norris of Baseball America shed some light on the details, reporting that teams will now be responsible for leases and utility agreements for players on minor league contracts who make less than $20K per month. Norris adds further details on the base amenities (including utilities, electricity and WiFi) that acceptable residences must include. His full piece is a worthwhile read for those interested in the specifics of the new policy.

MLB To Test Pre-Tacked Baseball In Triple-A

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Major League Baseball will introduce a pre-tacked baseball at certain Triple-A games for the minor league season’s final week and a half, reports Kyle Glaser of Baseball America. The new ball won’t be in effect at all games at the minors’ top level, as MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword tells Glaser there’s not yet enough supply to support a wide rollout.

It’s a bit surprising to see the experimental ball introduced at such a late stage of the season. The pre-tacked ball being tested in games did seem to be an inevitability at some point, though. Last month, Hannah Keyser of Yahoo! Sports reported that MLB had sent a prototype of a pre-tacked ball to certain big league players for feedback.

That experimentation comes on the heels of the league’s crackdown on pitchers’ usage of foreign substances. That was motivated primarily by a desire to police the most egregious offenders, pitchers who’d used extremely sticky substances to improve the quality of their raw stuff. However, MLB announced they’d legislate out all non-rosin sticky stuff — even substances more generally considered acceptable, like a sunscreen/rosin combination — to make enforcement more feasible for umpires. The league expressed an openness at the time to potential pre-tacked baseballs that would improve pitchers’ grips without meaningfully, artificially enhancing pitch movement. Three months later, they’ve found a product they deem suitable for in-game evaluation.

The pre-tacked baseball — which involves more than the traditional process of rubbing down the ball with mud — will be a change to the affiliated ranks. It’s not a new concept, though. Certain foreign leagues like Japan’s NPB and South Korea’s KBO have used pre-tacked balls for years, and a few players from the U.S. National Team have gone on record in support of the pre-tacked balls used in this summer’s Tokyo Olympics. (KBO and NPB rules call for slightly different specifications regarding the ball than do MLB regulations, so MLB’s pre-tacked prototype will not be the exact same as those foreign leagues’ balls). MLB itself experimented with a pre-tacked baseball in Spring Training 2019 but scrapped the project after receiving negative feedback.

With less than two weeks remaining in the Triple-A season and the pre-tacked ball not yet going into effect at all those games, there won’t be much time for the league to collect data this year. Still, the introduction of the new ball into competitive affiliated game at all is notable, and it’s safe to presume MLB will continue to solicit player feedback and monitor the results in future seasons before considering introducing it at the big league level.

Potential modification of the ball is only one of a few changes with which MLB has experimented in the minor leagues. MLB introduced rules changes at various levels entering the season. The bases were expanded slightly at Triple-A; defensive shifting was limited at Double-A. An electronic strike zone, limits on pick-offs and a 15-second pitch clock were put into place at different levels of the low minors.

Most of those measures will remain under evaluation, as Glaser separately reports that MLB plans to test those rules at this year’s Arizona Fall League. While MLB purposefully distributed those rules changes throughout various levels of the minors to evaluate their impact in isolation, combining them in the AFL is designed to gauge whether there will be any holistic effects. Glaser’s post on the Fall League changes is worth a read in full for those interested, as is this article by Jayson Stark of the Athletic from last week about the pitch clock’s influence on play in the Low-A West league this season.

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