ARLINGTON — Welcome to the new most exciting play in baseball. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss it. It’s the Foreign Substance check.
As Kyle Gibson came off the mound after the second inning Monday and again after the fifth, umpiring crew chief Dan Iassogna and colleague Andy Fletcher pulled him aside along the first-base line to check for Spider Tack, other sticky substances, nail files or — who knows — perhaps a shiv. It was like a World Class Championship Wrestling referee demanding to look at the heels of Dusty Rhodes’ boots before a match. Or Leslie Nielsen frisking batters while moonlighting as an umpire in The Naked Gun.
The umpires looked briefly at Gibson’s glove, the inside of his cap and the area around his belt and determined there was nothing unusual about them. He was simply pitching well. They did the same with Oakland’s Frankie Montas and discovered he, too, was clean, if not terribly effective. Montas allowed five runs in the first inning.
“It worked just fine for me,” Gibson said. “They said nothing looked sticky here, so let’s move on. … It was like going through TSA with a CLEAR pass, nobody in front of you.”
Montas did, however, throw far fewer four-seam fastballs than usual in the first inning. The elevated four-seamer, along with breaking pitches, have been at the center of MLB’s investigation into the use of sticky substances to improve grip, spin and movement. Montas’ four-seamer for the night averaged 2287 RPMs, a dip of a little more than 150 from his season average (2444) with the pitch.
Such was the report from the first night of more diligent enforcement of rules against pitchers applying foreign substances to balls. Under the enforcement plan, which went into effect Monday, a week after being announced, starters will have more than one mandatory check per game and each reliever will be checked at least once. Players who are found with any kind of foreign substance are subject to 10-game suspensions with pay, but their teams will not be able to replace them on the roster during their absence.
“I watched some earlier games, and I thought guys were almost making light of it,” manager Chris Woodward said. “I think guys who weren’t worried about it, made light of it. I thought it was just a little more lax than I thought it would be. But as long as everyone is clean, that’s the intent and that’s all we want.”
The Rangers had addressed this with their pitchers back in spring training and again after the rule change was announced. The Rangers are not heavy on four-seam guys and were confident their staff would not be found in violation.
“It’s not a big issue with us,” Woodward said. “Listen, I’m not saying guys didn’t use anything because they are major league pitchers and everybody felt like they used something. Sunscreen. Rosin. That was regarded as nothing. But it’s become illegal and guys are going to have to adjust a little bit. But for the most part our guys are already there and we’re in pretty good shape.”
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