Right-hander Max Scherzer has been suspended for 10 games by Major League Baseball because of a violation of grip-enhancing substance rules.
The game of baseball, like any other sport, is highly disciplined, and strict rules are followed in how the game should be played and how it will be conducted.
Malpractices of any kind, if caught, will be dealt with accordingly. This makes a sport standardized and democratized for people watching and people playing the game professionally or for leisure.
Max Scherzer’s incident
If suspected of using illegal substances during an ongoing game, it can cost athletes temporary suspensions. That is exactly what happened with Max Scherzer.
It was announced on Thursday that the New York Mets’ ace player would receive a 10-game suspension. Besides being fined an undisclosed figure, this happened after his plea was rejected over the use of an illegal substance, which was deemed illegal by an umpire. This happened in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He was initially to report for appealing the suspension, but after he learned that a neutral arbitrator wouldn’t hear the case, he decided to drop the appeal.
His suspension began with a game against the San Francisco Giants on the same day and will continue until the game against the Atlanta Braves on May 1. At the end of the suspension, he will become eligible to start playing.
Image Source – Sportskeeda
Precedents of similar events and his ejection
MLB (major league baseball) started a crackdown on illegal substances. Max Scherzer is the third person after Hector Santiago and Caleb Smith to be the only pitcher who received a 10-game suspension. Umpire Phil Cuzzi decided on his ejection before the fourth inning of the match.
He determined that the athlete’s hand was slightly sticky, in response to which Scherzer offered to wash his hand and recheck before the beginning of the 3rd inning. He then changed the gloves but was still rejected after his hands turned out to be sticky after he came out for the fourth inning.
His defense against the accusation and his ejection
Max Scherzer tried his best to defend himself and prove his innocence of using illegal substances to the umpires.
He stressed that he used only rosin, which MLB-approved and standardized chemical pitchers can apply to improve their grip during the game.
But if this substance comes in contact with sweat or sunscreen, which these players use for protection against the sun’s heat, then it reportedly becomes very sticky or tacky.
During interviews after the match, the crew chief, Dan Bellino, rejected a notion that a reporter put up that it might have been only rosin. He alleged that Scherzer’s hand was so sticky that even their fingers were sticking after touching his hands.
Scherzer didn’t need rosin in his gloves to be ejected.
If one considers Scherzer’s words at heart and at face value, then it also doesn’t completely mean that he wasn’t doing something prohibited. This is despite his swearing that he used only rosin for his children’s sake.
According to MLB rulebook statements, he applied rosin to his gloves, which is illegal according to Rule 6.02(d). This, along with the memo that the league sent on March 16 regarding rosin, exclusively leads to death with the excessive use of rosin or misapplication, in any case creating intentional high tackiness.
It’s thought that these points might have left Scherzer with no other options to defend himself, as it was beyond just using rosin.
His serves or fastballs were also found to have higher spin rates in the second inning, during which his hand was found to be slightly sticky.
Though it doesn’t leave out the fact of a lack of consistency in the enforcement of illegal substance control by the league.
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