In MLB's viscid baseball saga "Rockies are no sts.," former player mentions

Check out this post by Patrick Saunders from The Denver Post talking about several important points this week. Patrick Saunders recently published the article and I decided it was well worth syndicating on this website.

Major League Baseball finds itself in a sticky wicket.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Shildt calls it baseball’s “dirty little secret.” Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith recently said, “You see it across the league where some guys are blatantly using it.”

They’re talking about the syrupy junk pitchers are loading up on baseballs. Many within the game believe it’s a major reason for historically poor offensive numbers this year.

Manipulating baseballs, of course, is against the rules. MLB rule 6.02(c)(7) states, in part, that pitchers may not have “on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance.”

But pitchers have always tried bending the rule, and have been rewarded for it.

Gaylord Perry made the Hall of Fame even though he spent more than 20 years throwing a spitter. Actually, he didn’t throw spitters, he threw greaseballs. Vaseline was his foreign substance of choice.

But a day of reckoning is looming.

With six no-hitters already thrown this season, batting averages falling, strikeouts rising, action on the field disappearing and growing evidence that “sticky baseballs” are dramatically altering the game, MLB is expected to crack down on cheats, possibly as soon as this week. Penalties being discussed include suspending an offending pitcher 10 days without pay.

A former Rockies player, who played for several big-league teams, said he believes “close to 100%” of big-league pitchers use some kind of tacky substance on the baseball, noting that mixing sunscreen and rosin, or the use of pine tar, is “pretty much an accepted practice.”

“The issue now is that some of the stuff they are putting on baseballs now has made it a performance-enhancer,” said the former player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “So guys are faced with very much the same dilemma as in the steroid era. You either do it or you are not going to have a job.”

The player added that Rockies pitchers are throwing sticky balls, too.

So what are the chances a Rockies pitcher will get caught and suspended? After all, Colorado’s starters have been very good this season, particularly at notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field where they have posted a 3.51 ERA. If that number were to hold up, it would be the lowest starters’ ERA in franchise history.

Spinning it forward

A pitcher’s spin rate represents the rate of spin on a baseball after it is released from the hand. It is measured in revolutions per minute (RPM).

With four-seam fastballs and breaking balls (curves and sliders), the amount of spin a pitcher can create is vital to success. The faster a four-seamer spins, the less it drops. For the hitter, the ball actually appears to rise. Combine that illusion with the high-velocity fastballs being thrown today (95-100 mph) and it makes fastballs increasingly difficult to hit.

As for breaking balls, the more a curveball, slider or cut-fastball spins, the more the pitch is capable of moving.

Offspeed pitches, such as the changeup or sinker, do not benefit from extra spin because those pitches are intended to stay low in the strike zone and induce groundballs. A changeup is intended to look like a fastball, but it’s thrown with less velocity and less spin.

Statcast began measuring spin rates in 2015 and its data shows that, overall, spin rates continue to increase. Four-seam fastballs have jumped by an average of 79 rpm, the average slider jumped more than 350 rpm, and the curveball more than 250.

Four-seam fastball 2015 — 2,238 2021 — 2,317

Slider 2015 — 2,106 2021 — 2,459

Curveball 2015 — 2,303 2021 — 2,555

Rockies manager Bud Black, a former big-league pitcher, said he doesn’t know if his pitchers are putting gunk on the baseball to impart higher spin, thus making pitches harder to hit.

“I’m not aware of what’s going on with all of our pitchers in regard to what form of tackiness they are using,” he said. “I know that in the history of the game that there has been the use of the rosin bag and what we would refer to as ‘OK substances’ to create a level of safety for the hitters.

“And we all know that that’s fine, because we are talking about pitchers losing their grip on pitches.”

But the former Rockies player maintains that organizations are teaching pitchers in both the minors and the majors to use foreign substances to get more spin.

“They’re saying, ‘Hey, if your spin rate is ‘X,’ and you put this sticky stuff on the baseball, it’s going to be ‘Y,’ ” he said. “They’re encouraging it for many reasons. Obviously, it’s a competitive advantage, and it’s a way to get guys who are marginal to be a bit better.”

Asked if the Rockies are a team that encourages the use of foreign substances, he said, “Of course. The Rockies are no saints here.”

Interim Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt, the club’s longtime director of scouting, responded by saying, “To say that we teach the guys? I am, honestly, not aware that we are doing that.”

A product called Spider Tack, which was first developed to allow strongman athletes to get a better grip, is in the spotlight as one of the stickiest substances being used by pitchers. When a former major league pitcher tested grip substances this spring for The Athletic, the spin rate increased by more than 25 percent when switching from a sunscreen-and-rosin mix.

While it’s unclear how many pitchers are using Spider Tack and other similar substances, it is clear that increased spin rates make pitches more difficult to hit. Since the start of last season, batters are hitting .264 on four-seam fastballs that range from 2,250-2,350 revolutions per minute (rpm), but just .217 against fastballs with greater than 2,500 rpm of spin.

According to Baseball Savant, the spin rate for Colorado starters has increased, in most cases, over the past four years — but not dramatically.

For example, the spin rate on lefty-hander Kyle Freeland’s fastball has jumped from 2,266 rpm in 2018 to 2,490 this season, and his slider went from 2,194 to 2,497. Freeland, however, turned in one of the best pitching performances in Rockies history in 2018, posting a 2.85 ERA and this year he is struggling.

Right-hander German Marquez, considered to have the best “stuff” on the rotation, has seen the spin rate on his knuckle-curve stay consistent at around 2,680 the past four years.

Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon is among those who believe that high spin rates, created by loaded-up baseballs, are a huge reason for declining batting averages and increased strikeouts.

According to a recent Sports Illustrated story, the strikeout rate climbed from 19.9% in 2015 to 24.6% in 2021, while the average spin rate jumped from 2,127 rpm to 2,274 rpm. Blackmon told SI that the use of sticky stuff can’t be dismissed.

“I’m tired of hearing people say that players only want to hit home runs,” he said. “That’s not why people are striking out. They’re striking out because guys are throwing 97 mile-an-hour super sinkers, or balls that just go straight up with all this sticky stuff and the new-baseball spin rate. That’s why guys are striking out, because it’s really hard not to strike out.”

But former Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs, now a Rockies analyst for AT&T SportsNet, said there’s a lot more going on than dirty tricks by pitchers.

“With all of this sticky stuff going on, people want to just point to Spider Tack, or whatever it is, and say, ‘That’s the culprit!’ When it’s not true,” Spilborghs said. “There are too many other things going on.

“I mean, what’s the point of having all of these pitching instructors who are training with Driveline or Rapsodo and teaching guys to get the ball to spin off your fingers more efficiently? What’s the point of doing all of that if the answer is just throwing a sticky baseball? It doesn’t add up at all.”

Spilborghs believes that infield shifts, especially against left-handed hitters, play a big part in declining averages. He also notes that pitchers are bigger and stronger than ever and throwing harder than ever.

“Does tack have something to do with it? Sure,” he said. “Is it the main culprit? No, it can’t be. And if it is, then why don’t we see a 60th-round draft pick turn into Gerrit Cole?”

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Cole, the Yankees’ ace, found himself caught in the middle of baseball’s firestorm last week. Four days after Minnesota’s Josh Donaldson speculated about a recent drop in Cole’s spin rate, Cole evaded a direct question about whether he has used Spider Tack. Cole paused for more than five seconds before stumbling with his words.

“I don’t quite know how to answer that, to be honest,” he told reporters. “I mean, there are customs and practices that have been passed down from older players to younger players, from the last generation of players to this generation of players.

“And I think there are some things that are certainly out of bounds in that regard and I’ve stood pretty firm, in terms of that, in terms of the communication between our peers and whatnot.”

The Dodgers’ Trevor Bauer is another pitcher who’s been drawn into the controversy. He was the target of a probe by MLB earlier this season when officials inspected baseballs he used in games. Baseball took a hard look at the reigning National League Cy Young winner because the spin rate on his four-seam fastball increased nearly 30%. According to Statcast data, his fastball rpm jumped from 2,225 in 2015 to 2,875 through his first 12 starts this year.

Last Sunday, as reports surfaced that MLB would be cracking down on sticky baseballs, the rpm on Bauer’s four-seamer dropped about 9 percent to 2,612 and he allowed three runs on six hits and four walks in six innings in a loss to the Braves.

“A hot, humid day in Atlanta,” he told reporters, also noting that in 2018, he posted a 2.21 ERA across 175 1/3 innings with a fastball that averaged 2,322 rpm.

Bauer went on to send a message to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: “I just want to compete on a fair playing field. I’ll say it again. Let everyone play on a fair playing field. So if you’re going to enforce it, then enforce it. If you’re not, then stop sweeping it under the rug.”