While there is a “broad consensus among players that Spider Tack is over the line,” a high-ranking person on the players’ side told ESPN on Monday, the full ban of all grip agents could rankle players.
Some teams already have asked pitchers who relied heavily on foreign substances to throw bullpen sessions without any grip enhancers to prepare for the future, two players and an official told ESPN.
From debates about the morality to discussions about a league that hasn’t issued a foreign-substance suspension in more than six years suddenly primed to levy multiple to the acknowledgment that a starting pitcher could essentially lose only one start over 10 games, conversations about the league’s plan have grown spirited.
Multiple players said they were hopeful that MLB would differentiate among the substances and buy time before the potential issuance of a legal, universal substance pitchers can use for grip.
Asked for comment on the pending memo, the MLB Players Association said in a statement, “The Players Association is aware that Major League Baseball plans to issue guidance shortly regarding the enforcement of existing rules governing foreign substances.
While the sample is small, the leaguewide batting average since June 3 — when the first reports about the league’s crackdown surfaced — is .247, a substantial jump from the .236 to that point in the season.
With the knowledge that four-seam fastballs that spin more drop less, high-RPM fastballs at the top of the strike zone became a go-to pitch across the game.
Baseball, which started studying the use of foreign substances at the beginning of the season, determined two months into the season that it had ample evidence and reason to penalize foreign-substance use this season.