Dodgers: Trevor Bauer Has Ball Removed From the Game for Foreign Substance Testing
Major League Baseball is starting its crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances. It appears the Dodgers got their first taste of that on Wednesday with Trevor Bauer on the mound.
Umpires from the game reportedly pulled a ball out of the game after Trevor Bauer’s first inning. That will likely be sent for inspection, per MLB’s new policy instituted prior to the start of the year. They will test the ball to ensure that the Dodgers starter was not using something on his hand that is now allowed in the policy.
This is the first time this year that anyone has been able to confirm a ball was pulled by umpires. The fact that it happens to be on Trevor Bauer is a little funny given the focus that he has on spin rates. The Dodgers pitcher has also been against how MLB decided to roll out this new rule in 2021.
A baseball has been taken out of play by the umpires and likely sent to their room for inspection after Bauer’s first inning…something new for 2021
— Vince Cotroneo (@vincebaseball) April 7, 2021
The Dodgers were not asked about the move by officials after the game, so no comment could be found on the matter. But this is expected to be part of the foreseeable future with Major League Baseball, so get used to it now.
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The new rule put in place allows for the league to monitor spin rates from pitchers to watch for foreign substance use. It makes it so that officials can randomly or specifically pull balls out of the game at any given time.
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Well in that case start checking DeGrom too.
and a few others too! Asterick’s & Pods have some pitchers to check!
Don’t forget Cole!
Bauer challenges the MLB and now they are singling him out for punishment because he speaks his mind. The MLB pulling the all star game from Atlanta was a travesty and abuse of power. They are doing the same thing to Bauer. Manfred is the worst commissioner in the history of any sport.
spot on!
and they should give the dodgers at least 2017
you posted MLBs bad rules now you will be black listed and umpires dont like you anyway bauer also you might be the only starting cy young with 5 wins and 4 loses and you wont be with the dodgers very long because you are a bad apple.
Lolz
You give too much respect to Manfred Mann (the commissioner). He is merely a puppet for the owners. From his standpoint, they pay him — Howdy Doody — a ton of money.
If they find any astros pitcher messing with the ball, will they let them go scott free ???
False positive
Good,check every ball from every game that he pitches.This way he can get caught early in the season and get suspended.Spin rates don’t magically go up the way his did,so he’s a red flag.
The Dodgers don’t need to be listed as cheaters like the ASStros!
Just stop using pine tar and let your 4+ ERA show
Check Bauer, Garrett Cole, and the rest of the league while your at it. Pitchers ERA gonna rise and hitters about to feast across the league if they check balls across the league. Would probably be a good move for baseball as games with more hits will attract more fans, or at least keep those watching interested.
If youre going to police the substances pitchers use gain grip on a baseball then you most police the substances batters use to gain grip on the bats. Whats the difference? Batters were allowed to wear body armour when pitchers started throwing harder and were coming inside. So know they can crowd the plate making it harder for pitchers. Steriods and how it obliterated an entire decade of pitching stats. And the amount of pine tar batters use these days. They have it all over their bats, helmets, and uniforms. What are all those things used for? To give the batter an advantage when he climbs in the box. So youre going to take away the pitchers ability to grip a ball better? Pitchers are throwing harder than ever and you want to take away their ability to grip the ball? So essentially you are now putting every batter at more risk of injury. If a pitcher doesnt have a good grip on the ball and is constantly unable to grip the ball correctly you now expose the pitcher to more arm wear and fatigue leading to more long term and substantial damage. This move by baseball is extremely dangerous and needs to be dealt with not by signaling out pitchers but by coming together to either develop and rule or agree on some product that pitchers can use something that will help them get a better grip or else it will have damaging effects not in the best intrest of the game.MLB didnt care when they juiced the baseballs to create more homeruns at the exspense of pitchers and their stats./ Those stats are what gets pitchers their contracts. So basically they were taking money out of their pockets and in some cases ruined careers if say a rookie gets called up and gets bombed cause of juiced balls and never gets another shot. And whoever in the comments said Bauer and his spin rate are ridiculous and it can never rise as much as it does……you my friend need to do your homework on what the new norm is in professional baseball. Organizations and players like trevor bauer live and die by analytics and improving things like spin rate. If you watch trevor bauers vlog he documents his everyday workouts and his body readings and literally works on improving his spin rate!!! Its a science not something somebody makes up. Over the last 3 years when spin rate became such a key stat most pitchers now look to try and increase spin rate and have seen success doing so. As for the sticky stuff on baseballs, they use it to grip a baseball, that they are firing at over 100mph in some cases towards another human being. In my opinion you want them to have a good grip or we might start seeing alot more players losing their carreers like kirby puckett and almost mike stanton. Lets not forget that no matter a pitchers spin rate or movement they still need to hit the strike zone. And that zone is always gonna be the same on a hitter. Atleast theyre not doctoring the ball or cutting seems to manipulate the actual look of the ball and its rotation. Actually they are making the rotatation of the ball even more prevalent and ask any hitter what it is they look for when trying to identify a pitch thrown at them…….its the rotation and spin!!!! The sticky substance needs to be regulated but not criminalized for the safety of the players. Find a product that will give every pitcher the ability to safely grab a ball and throw it with confidence thats not in anyway interfering with the way a ball looks or can be doctored. Alot different than a washed up phil neikro with a razor blade in his back pocket cutting seems and parachuting his pitches to get outs. This whole witch hunt on pitchers is rob manfred trying to grab headlines for himself to try and “clean up” the game after he himself shit the bed on the astros scandal and their “sit in the corner time out” joke of a punishment for doctoring an entire playoff run and phil neikroing a world series. Mickey mouse patch job by manfred and its a joke!