Enforcement will begin on Monday, June 21, which makes one wonder what the final six days of this week will look like in terms of unfettered doctoring of the baseball.
“Many baseballs collected have had dark, amber-colored markings that are sticky to the touch.
The rules ban any foreign substance applied to the baseball other than rosin.
Punishment for violations of these rules, which again have been codified for years, are ejection and a 10-game suspension.
Catchers will be subject to routine inspection, and can also be ejected and suspended if they are found to be aiding the pitcher in doctoring the ball.
While most of this seems cut and dry, how players and teams will adjust to the new enforcement will be the key to all of this.
In a February 2020 article for The Players Tribune, Bauer said, “For eight years I’ve been trying to figure out how to increase the spin on my fastball because I’d identified it way back then as such a massive advantage.
He then saw the spin rate on his four-seam fastball increase by 15 percent, from 2,410 rpm in 2019 to 2,779 rpm in 2020 en route to winning the National League Cy Young Award.
That’s been the point this entire time, that everyone can be on a fair playing field,” Bauer said on June 6.