Max Scherzer will serve his 10-game suspension after being ejected from Wednesday’s start when the umpiring crew deemed his hands to be the stickiest they’ve seen since inspections began, but Scherzer maintained his innocence while calling out the rule in general.
“For me, I just hope that we can modify the rule,” Scherzer said. “The intent of this rule was to try to clean up the game, clean up the stuff that was causing spin rates to spike and all that stuff. I don't think it was intended to crack down on pitchers that were using legal substances. I used legal substances. I did. For me, I wish there was a modification to bring spin rates into play, and to let that be the threshold for when umpires can check.
“I still don’t understand how I’m deemed to be cheating with that going on.”
Scherzer’s spin rates have indeed been consistent all season, and there was no remote numerical evidence of an anomaly during Wednesday’s outing. He pleaded with the umpires that it was rosin on his hands, but he was ultimately ejected. Now, Scherzer can only hope that his ejection and suspension brings more attention to the inspection process so it can be altered to help other pitchers avoid his fate.
“There's no uniform stickiness,” Scherzer said. “The umpires are given classes on what they're looking for, whereas MLB says here's your rosin bag, use sweat. So that's what we do. There's no objective, quantifiable measurement of stickiness.”
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