Garrett Richards wants to make one thing perfectly clear. Make that a few things.
The Red Sox starting pitcher -- who has served as the centerpiece for much of this team's participation in the recent Major League Baseball's crackdown on sticky substances used by pitchers -- took a few minutes prior to Wednesday's game at Fenway Park to clarify his mindset and approach when it came to the issue.
For three straight starts, Richards hasn't hid the fact that his recent downturn in performance could be linked to an inability to use some substance for better grips on the baseball.
So, what exactly was he referencing? Richards offered some specifics to WEEI.com.
"I mean I came into the league in 2011. When I first ran into my problem of not being able to grip the ball, that was what was introduced to me. Over the years I don't really know a lot of people who didn't at least use rosin and sunscreen," he said. "It was just a universal thing. I have never even seen a Pelican Grip or Spider Tack jar. I've never even seen the stuff before. I feel like if anybody had that stuff they kind of kept it to themselves and nobody really talked about it. At least that's been my experiences on the three teams that I've played for.
"Looking back at it, I feel like, yeah, maybe were we doing something wrong. But I also feel like we also weren't doing something wrong because nobody was saying anything. I'm kind of on the fence about it. But we're part of an era like any other era. There was the Steroid Era and now there's the Sticky Era.
"It's not like people were passing jars of this stuff around the locker room. Like I said, I have never even seen the stuff up close. I don't even know what it looks like. ... People are looking at it a certain way, and that's fine. We're just here to play baseball. We're trying to move forward and win ballgames."
Richards, like other pitchers, take great issue with Major League Baseball's decision to enforce its new policy in the middle of a season.
Appearing on the Greg Hill Show, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy explained that the players had been warned in spring training about the new approach to enforcement.
“I think the commissioner’s office made that very clear back in Spring Training,” Kennedy said. “They essentially put the industry on notice. They talked to players, to hitters, to pitchers, current players, former players, and now they’re enforcing the rules that need to be enforced.”
But, according to Richards, that wasn't necessarily the case.
"It was never really ... I never really personally was told about it, and, or did we get the sense it was going to happen," the pitcher said. "I don't know if a memo was sent out or whatever. If it was word of mouth. I don't remember hearing it or did we ever feel like it was actually a thing."
So, when was the first he remembered hearing about MLB's focus on eliminating all grip-enhancing substances?
"Maybe a month or two into the season. A month and half into the season is when we started getting a little piece of paper on our chair," Richards said. "But that's what we got before. I don't know. It is what it is. As a group, we're trying to adjust and trying to get better every day."
Richards has accepted this is how it's going to be going forward, which why his most recent start included pitches and strategies he had never incorporated throughout a professional career that started in 2009.
Suddenly, his curveball was being thrown as soft as 63 mph, with the righty breaking out a pitch -- the changeup -- he had just started tinkering with a few days before.
The idea behind the execution? It was to discover pitches that didn't rely so much on the grip of the ball.
"I know how to throw a baseball properly. When I absorb information, I can usually apply it," Richards explained. For me it was just a concept of a grip and being out in front and being able to turn my hand over for the changeup. And then the curveball, I guess you can say I have decent feel. I've walked a lot of guys so that could be argued, but my balls move a lot.
"Since we started this whole new thing I've been able to take a step back and not, so to speak, grip everything. As far as ripping, as far as it throwing hard. Taking a step back as far as effort level and paying attention to hand placement and location. I'm just trying to get used to it. It's definitely moving in the right direction. There are a lot of positives that come out these games you don't see in box score.
"We've been asked to do something in the middle of the season that's not the easiest thing to do. Some guys have been moving on as business. Some guys are struggling a little bit. We have to be realistic here. It's not going to change over night. But we are moving in the right direction pretty fast. I developed a new pitch. A pitch I can throw that I feel comfortable no matter what. And the curveball, I'm just messing with two different things right now. I'm just trying to make myself as good a I can possibly be. I'm trying to evolve as a pitcher. I'm getting older and I'm trying to maximize my stuff."
While still clearly frustrated the changed landscape, Richards has uncovered some optimism thanks to a final 3 2/3 innings against the Royals in which he didn't surrender a single run utilizing his new arsenal of pitches.
"I just kind of grabbed the ball. It's more of a split change over a two-seam grip," he said of the changeup. "I've always loved a good changeup, but I never really have had the time. I never really had the time to work on a changeup with Tommy John and all of that. It was more about getting back on the field. ... The first couple of them you're kind of like getting for a feel for what you want to feel. I'm the type of dude who once I feel it a couple of times I can repeat it. I like to think I can correct a pitch within one or two pitches."
When it comes to the 33-year-old's current existence, with acceptance has come optimism.
"I've done enough rehab in my career I know how to get over a bump or two," Richards added. "I'm trying to take a good mindset, a good positive mindset and try to get better every day. Try to get as good as I possibly can. This is a great opportunity for pitchers out there who have good true feel and are true pitchers, we'll figure out a way to be successful. And that's kind of my mission right now."