SEATTLE — Pristine white baseballs that might not require rubbing are into consideration by Major League Baseball as a option to clear up the problem of pitchers utilizing sticky substances for higher grip.
“We continue to work with the people at Dow Chemical on developing a tacky ball,” Commissioner Ron Manfred informed the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “It would literally eliminate all – well, not all – but many of the variables in the current process. It would come out of a sealed foil pouch at the ballpark. No individual mudding.”
MLB govt vice chairman Morgan Sword mentioned the balls had been examined within the first half of this season within the Double-A Southern League. The balls would retain coloured stitches.
“Like everything in baseball, when you inch towards a solution, you figure out another problem,” Manfred mentioned. “The baseball, if we get there with the Dow people, would be a pearl, right? A pure white baseball. I think if you take hitters and pitchers out front here and ask ‘em what they think of a pure white baseball, you’re going to find out that it’s a pretty controversial topic. So not only do we have the science that we’re continuing to work on but we’re going to have to get over that sort of policy issue of: Is a pure white baseball a good thing?”
Five pitchers have been suspended for 10 video games every since MLB started its crackdown on banned grip substances in June 2021 by instituting common inspections by umpires.
Seattle’s Hector Santiago and Arizona’s Caleb Smith served suspensions in 2021 and three had been disciplined this season: the Mets’ Max Scherzer, the Yankees’ Domingo Germán on May 17 and the Mets’ Drew Smith on June 14.
“The suspensions that we have had would fall into the category of clear-to-egregious violations,” Manfred mentioned. “I understand that feeling someone’s hand is inherently subjective. I think this is an area where umpires, again, with a difficult topic, have shown great judgment and discretion. I think gray areas, players have definitely been given the benefit of the doubt.”
Baseballs presently are rubbed with mud to make them much less slick. MLB standardized rubbing procedures among the many 30 groups final 12 months.
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