Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
Major League Baseball announced on Thursday night that they’ve suspended New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer for 10 games and fined him $10,000 for violating prohibitions on foreign substances, which led to his ejection during the fourth inning of his Club’s Wednesday, April 19 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
Scherzer told reporters before the Mets game on Thursday night that he will not appeal the 10-game suspension. He will be eligible to return on May 1.
“I thought I was going get in front of a neutral arbitrator, but I wasn’t. It was going to be through MLB. Given that process, I wasn’t going to come out on top,” Scherzer said.
The following is from the MLB press release.
MLB reviewed relevant video and first-person reports, including a report from the umpiring crew led by Crew Chief Dan Bellino. Despite having been warned earlier in the game, including being required to make an equipment change, Mr. Scherzer was found to be in violation of the foreign substance prohibitions of the Official Baseball Rules prior to the bottom of the fourth inning.
After being checked at the conclusion of the second inning, Mr. Scherzer was told to wash his hands prior to returning for the next inning, and that he would be inspected again prior to the third inning. When Mr. Scherzer was inspected prior to pitching in the third inning, the umpires found that his pitching hand was clean, but found a sticky substance in the pocket of his glove, and Mr. Scherzer was told to replace his glove.
The umpires inspected Mr. Scherzer for a final time when he was walking to the mound to pitch in the fourth inning, and found that Mr. Scherzer’s throwing hand was even more glossy and sticky than it was during the second inning inspection, despite not yet even throwing a pitch. Based on the umpires’ training to detect rosin on a pitcher’s hands, they concluded that the level of stickiness during the fourth inning check was so extreme that it was inconsistent with the use of rosin and/or sweat alone. Both umpires reported difficulty removing the substance from their own hands for multiple innings afterward. Consistent with the Official Baseball Rules, the umpires then appropriately ejected Mr. Scherzer from the game.
