(AUDACY) MLB may soon have a solution to its "sticky stuff" problem.
The league has begun disseminating prototypes of pre-tacked baseballs to different ballclubs to solicit feedback from players, Hannah Keyser of Yahoo! Sports reported. The New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers have been among the teams that have received the prototypes when the played each other at Citi Field a week-and-a-half ago. The San Francisco Giants are also expected to receive them when they come to New York.
While these prototypes are still in the preliminary stages, Mets pitcher Rich Hill believes MLB is close to finding a solution.
"They're getting there," Hill told Keyser. "They're working on it, and I know they're going to come, hopefully, to a good resolution."
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Essentially, a pre-tacked baseball would be treated with a substance to give them an easier grip.
The use of illegal sticky substances by pitchers came to a head earlier this season, with MLB finally cracking down on it by subjecting pitchers to routine checks between innings of their gloves, hats and belts.
Offensive numbers were at record lows prior to the crackdown, but since then the league has seen a slight increase in offensive production.
MLB has been experimenting with creating a stickier baseball in recent years, while other professional leagues are already using such a baseball, including Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korean Baseball Organization.
MLB officials have been in contact with both leagues while developing their prototype.
Those balls were also used in the Olympics in Japan in late July and August.
"It is, I can't say enough, the best baseball I've ever touched," Twins pitcher Joe Ryan told Keyser. "We need this."
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