NEW YORK – Pitchers will be ejected and suspended for 10 games for using illegal foreign substances to doctor baseballs in a crackdown by Major League Baseball that will start Monday.
The commissioner’s office, responding to record strikeouts and a league batting average at a low not seen in half a century, said major and minor league umpires will start regular checks of all pitchers, even if opposing managers don’t request inspections. While suspensions would be with pay, repeat offenders would receive progressive discipline, and teams and club employees would be subject to discipline for failure to comply.
“After an extensive process of repeated warnings without effect, gathering information from current and former players and others across the sport, two months of comprehensive data collection, listening to our fans and thoughtful deliberation, I have determined that new enforcement of foreign substances is needed to level the playing field,” Rob Manfred, the sport’s commissioner, said in a release.
The perception of an increased use of foreign substances, tied to a drop in offense, is viewed as the largest instance of widespread cheating in baseball since the rise of steroids, which resulted in the adoption of random drug testing with penalties ahead of the 2004 season.
Executive vice president for operations Morgan Sword, MLB senior vice president for on-field operations Mike Hill and consultant Theo Epstein outlined the increased enforcement during a 15-minute electronic meeting this week with the 30 team managers. Hill sent a five-page memo with three pages of attached questions and answers to owners, CEOs, team presidents, general managers, managers and all major and minor league players.