The MLB Is Trying To Crack Down on Foreign Substances

Baseball and cheating go hand and hand. Everything from performance enhancers to sign stealing, baseball has had a long history trying to keep "integrity" in the game. To be honest, I think a lot of casual fans agree cheating is good for the game. I mean, who doesn't like to see moonshots from guys like this every night?

One of the biggest problems baseball has is pitchers using foreign substances to create more spin on the ball. When you create more spin on the ball, the ball creates more movement, which makes it harder for hitters. Some pitchers are open about it and others like to hide. Some pitchers are just terrible at hiding it.

Jeff Passan reported the MLB is putting in new protocols trying to stop pitchers from using foreign substances. Here are some of the details.

I don't blame the MLB for doing this because obviously, it's getting to the point where it seems like every pitcher is using something. Is a random dude from the MLB going to stalk every pitcher now? I guess the most effective way is to send the balls to the lab. It's going to be very hard to enforce this, but if they do, a lot of pitchers are probably going to regress big time. All of a sudden that fastball doesn't have as much movement anymore. That big contract you thought you gave to an ace turns out to be a middle of the rotation guy.

The data backs it up that foreign substances help with spin rate. It's going to be fascinating to see how this all plays out.