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*sigh* Hate to say it, but it's imminently possible that Max is one of those people.
Ryan Vogelsong was interviewed on the local Squirrels network yesterday. He said he never used any substance...including the rosin bag. You can come to your own conclusions based upon his roller-coaster career, including 3 years in Japan...https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=vogelry01He did say that the baseball today is so different, he likened it to throwing a cue ball...
Has he had spikes in his spin rate, or is it invisible because he's been doing it since before spin could be measured?
The SI article said that the Nats had one of the largest increases in spin-rate this season. I'm guessing Fedde and Voth, who were mediocre before this. The article says that players suspect Max, as well. Worst team is the Dodgers, though.
Link? All articles I’ve read indicate our spin rate increases are pedestrian
• Umpires will check starting pitchers at least twice a game and relief pitchers at least once.• Checks will be done as pitchers come off the mound after an inning has ended or a pitching change has been made — in other words, during commercial breaks.• If an umpire believes a pitcher is using a substance, he will be encouraged to check the pitcher during the inning. Umpires can check fingers, skin, hats, gloves, belts and any other part of the uniform.• If substances are found, the pitcher will be ejected and his equipment and/or uniform will be confiscated and given to the on-site major-league authenticator.• Umpires will be instructed to check a position player’s glove only if they believe he is doctoring balls for the pitcher.
Summary of expected rules, from ESPN:https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31619399/sources-mlb-finalizing-memo-rule-use-foreign-substances-pitchers?platform=ampFrom Ken Rosenthal in "The Athletic":
I distinctly remember an interview with Sean Doolittle a few years back where he discussed spin-rate and how he'd worked on that to maintain his effectiveness as he got older. There, the context was taking a more scientific approach to the game and the art of pitching. I can't remember if he specifically discussed how one generates more spin-rate, though I think it was about using high-speed cameras and getting a better appreciation of how exactly the ball leaves one's fingertips. I suppose now all spin-rate discussions will be about foreign substances?
To understand the fiasco of baseball’s 2021 season, which people around the game describe as sullied by rampant cheating to a degree not seen since the steroid era, all you have to do is pick up a ball.Then try to put it back down.One ball made its way into an NL dugout last week, where players took turns touching a palm to the sticky material coating it and lifting the baseball, adhered to their hand, into the air. Another one, corralled in a different NL dugout, had clear-enough fingerprints indented in the goo that opponents could mimic the pitcher’s grip. A third one, also in the NL, was so sticky that when an opponent tried to pull the glue off, three inches of seams came off with it.Over the past two or three years, pitchers’ illegal application to the ball of what they call “sticky stuff”—at first a mixture of sunscreen and rosin, now various forms of glue—has become so pervasive that one recently retired hurler estimates “80 to 90%” of pitchers are using it in some capacity. The sticky stuff helps increase spin on pitches, which in turn increases their movement, making them more difficult to hit. That’s contributed to an offensive crisis that has seen the league-wide batting average plummet to a historically inept .236. (Sports Illustrated spoke with more than two dozen people; most of them requested anonymity to discuss cheating within their own organizationsFrom the dugout, players and coaches shake their heads as they listen to pitchers’ deliveries. “You can hear the friction,” says an American League manager. The recently retired pitcher likens it to the sound of ripping off a Band-Aid. A major league team executive says his players have examined foul balls and found the MLB logo torn straight off the leather.<snip>According to the data, L.A. has by a large margin the highest year-to-year increase of any club in spin rate on four-seam fastballs, which are considered a bellwether pitch. In fact, the Dodgers’ four-seam spin rate is higher than that of any other team in the Statcast era. There is no proof the Dodgers are doctoring baseballs, but nearly across the board, their hurlers’ spin rates on that pitch have increased this season from last.The Dodgers declined to comment.<snip>A lawsuit brought late last year by a fired Angels clubhouse employee alleged that the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole, the Nationals’ Max Scherzer and the Astros’ Justin Verlander were among the users of one such substance. (The suit has been dismissed and is being appealed; SI reached out to each player through his agency but did not receive replies.)<snip>Before Bauer’s spin rate jumped, he had an ERA of 4.04 and the 228th-best opponent batting average, at .241. Since the increase, those figures are 2.31 and an MLB-best .161. The Athletic reported in April that the league had collected several balls from Bauer’s first start that “had visible markings and were sticky.” Asked about the report at the time, Bauer said, “MLB is just collecting baseballs to do a study. Like, they’re not doing anything with them. No one’s under investigation, or no one’s—like, just these gossip bloggers out here, writing stuff to try to throw water on my name or whatever.”<snip>
The SI article said 3 percent on four seam fastballs for the Nats. 7 percent for the Dodgers. Of course Bauer did not pitch for them last year. Don’t know what the breakdown is for individual pitchers which would be more telling. If a pitcher went from 92 mph fastballs last year to 95 this year would you say that is pedestrian? Because that is basically 3 percent.
I wonder if there has ever been an era in any major sport where cheating *wasn't* rampant. I assume it's more a matter of only being noticed when a new method is especially effective.
