Mattingly: Marlins aware of ‘ramifications’ as MLB begins enforcing foreign substance bans

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday it will eject and suspend players for 10 days if there are found to use illegal foreign substances to alter baseballs.

The enforcement will begin Monday, and the penalties have the potential to have “serious ramifications” on a team, according to Marlins manager Don Mattingly.

Specifically, teams will not be allowed to replace players who are suspended for on-field violations while the suspension is being served, leaving teams short-handed in the interim.

“If you don’t get your club all informed and everybody knows, and you lose two guys out your [bullpen] and you can’t replace them, those guys are off on a 10-day sabbatical, but those other guys, you’re taking a shot at their career,” Mattingly said. “Right now, I’m overusing guys, so now I’m in a bad position of like, ‘I can’t get this guy hurt.’ That’s one of the first things as a manager. I’m going to protect guys. Anybody that’s not feeling good or something’s going on, I’m not pitching him. Guys on your own team or could be putting your own teammate in danger.”

These aren’t new rules being put in place. Rather, it’s enforcing a pair of rules that have routinely not been enforced.

Official Baseball Rule 3.01 states that “no player shall intentionally discolor or damage the ball by rubbing it with soil, rosin, paraffin, licorice, sand-paper, emery-paper or other foreign substance.”

Rule 6.02(c), also known as “Pitching Prohibitions,” expands on Rule 3.01. Among other things, it notes that a pitcher may not “apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball”; “deface the ball in any manner”; throw a shine ball, spit ball, mud ball, or emery ball”; “have on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance”; or “attach anything to his hand, any finger or either wrist (e.g., Band-Aid, tape, Super Glue, bracelet, etc.).”

“I understand there’s a history of foreign substances being used on the ball,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement, “but what we are seeing today is objectively far different, with much tackier substances being used more frequently than ever before. It has become clear that the use of foreign substance has generally morphed from trying to get a better grip on the ball into something else — an unfair competitive advantage that is creating a lack of action and an uneven playing field.”

Heading into Tuesday, MLB’s collective .238 batting average is on pace to be the second-lowest in league history ahead of just the .237 mark from 1968 — the year before MLB lowered the mound height by five inches. There are also an average of 8.95 strikeouts per nine innings this year, which is on pace for the most recorded in MLB history.

Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. earlier this month said he had a meeting with the team’s pitchers during spring training at the urging of general manager Kim Ng about the consequences they could face if they were caught using foreign substances on baseballs.

“The consequences that MLB had laid out for us spooked our guys, even for guys that may have come from other organizations and used it before,” Stottlemyre said on June 5. “It’s scared our guys away from using it.”

Marlins reliever Ross Detwiler, who said he has not uses illegal substances on baseballs during his career but admitted to seeing others use “different stuff — stuff that’s worked and stuff that hasn’t worked,” said the increased use of analytics and more public understanding of concepts like spin rate gives a tangible data point on how the use of foreign substances can impact the baseball.

“I think that’s how the pitchers got there and then once the the rates were all up and everybody was was doing a whole lot better, then the league had to kind of backtrack and figure out what’s going on,” Detwiler said. “It seemed like they did.”

Among the highlights of MLB’s enhanced enforcement:

▪ ”Starting pitchers will have more than one mandatory check per game, and each relief pitcher must be checked either at the conclusion of the inning in which he entered the game or when he is removed from the game, whichever occurs first.”

▪ “Rosin bags on the mound may be used in accordance with the rules. All substances except for rosin are prohibited per the Playing Rules that clearly state players cannot “apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball” and may not “have on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance.” Players may not intentionally combine rosin with other substances (e.g., sunscreen) to create additional tackiness or they risk ejection and suspension. Pitchers have been advised not to apply sunscreen during night games after the sun has gone down or when playing in stadiums with closed roofs. To ensure standardization of the rosin bag, Clubs must submit the rosin bag along with the game balls to be reviewed by the umpires before the start of each game.”

▪ “Catchers will also be subject to routine inspections. Umpires will also inspect a position player if they observe conduct consistent with the use of a foreign substance by the pitcher.”

▪ “Although the foreign substance prohibitions do not apply exclusively to pitchers, the pitcher ultimately will be responsible for any ball that is delivered with a foreign substance on it.”