MLB’s hope is that pitchers who use foreign substances like Spider Tack and homemade super glues will be scared straight by the public conversation and stop using them, sources said.
According to sources, the foreign substance checks will be designed to work like a DUI checkpoint — with randomness built in to reduce any pitcher’s possible comfort level with the idea of violating the rule or applying substances after being checked during a game.
The current foreign substance rule has been on the book for decades, but baseball has effectively operated with an unspoken agreement between managers, players and teams to not ask the umpires to check pitchers because the use of substances was widespread and accepted as standard operating procedure.
But as pitchers have learned to increase the spin rate on their pitches in recent years — some presumably through the use of more acute substances, such as Spider Tack — pitching has been increasingly dominant within the game.
When umpires begin enforcement, players will face possible suspension if found with anything from sunscreen to pine tar to some of the newer substances.
Position players have been driving a lot of the midseason push for change, which is unusual within Major League Baseball.
“It’s just like the steroid era,” Cobb told the Orange County Register.
Weeks ago, Major League Baseball and the union leadership talked through a presentation about the growing issue of pitchers effectively weaponizing foreign substances.