The ‘foreign substance controversy’ that has heated up the major leagues for years is showing signs of recurring. As the ignition point, attention is focused on the Yankees.
Since 2021, the Major League (MLB) Secretariat has thoroughly checked the use of sticky foreign substances by pitchers that have been deeply rooted in the league.
There were controversies over foreign substances in the past, but the war of words between Trevor Bauer (Yokohama Dena Baystars) and Gerrit Cole (New York Yankees) made a decisive contribution to raising the ‘pan’. In the end, the secretariat has carried out protocols in which the secretariat itself analyzes the number of rotations of the ball and confiscates and searches the player’s body, dugout, and locker room, in addition to cases where a pitcher’s suspicious behavior is detected during a game or there is a protest from the opposing team.
Controversy arose in the game between the Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds on the 20th (Korean time).
Cincinnati manager David Bell protested strongly that Yankees Clark Schmidt was using a foreign object. In the bottom of the fifth inning, with the Yankees leading 1-0, the umpires examined Schmidt’s body.
According to MLB.com, referee Nestor Ceza noticed the stickiness on Schmidt’s left wrist. However, the judges determined that the substance was not pine tar or any other foreign substance conducive to pitching, but a natural residue from the glove. After washing his hands, no sticky or foreign substances were found on Schmidt’s body.
As a result, Cincinnati manager Bell was ejected after a protest. After the match, he cynically said, “It’s not useful to talk about it, but it’s obvious what happened.”
The starting pitcher for Cincinnati, who faced Schmidt that day, was Ben Lively from Samsung. Lively played well with an intense slider, giving up two runs in 5⅔innings and striking out eight, but the team’s defeat on that day faded the light. It was his first start on the day after coming out of the bullpen two games earlier. It is an upward trend with an average ERA of 2.45 in three games.
The reason why the Yankees became suspicious was because there was a precedent in which Domingo Hermann was sent off after a foreign object was discovered. Hermann was ejected after being inspected by the referee in the 4th inning against the Toronto Blue Jays on the 17th. Referee James Hoy noted, “His hands were full of a shiny, gooey foreign substance. It was difficult to remove my fingers from Hermann’s palm.” Hermann protested, saying, “It’s just sweat and rosin powder,” but it was not accepted.
Hermann is serving a 10-game suspension. He became the second player of the year to be disciplined for violating the foreign object rule. The first is Max Scherzer (New York Mets), who was ejected on April 20 for a foreign substance test.메이저사이트 Previously, on April 17, Hermann received a warning from the referee after a foreign substance test.