Trevor May Unhappy With MLB’s Ruling on ‘Sticky Substances’

In an effort to crack down on banned substances, Major League Baseball came out this week and stated that pitchers caught using “sticky substances” including spider tack will receive a 10-game suspension. Mets pitcher Trevor May is the most recent among a handful of pitchers to speak on and give his thoughts on MLB’s decision. He spoke on his vlog and answered questions from fans.

“One issue I constantly have with MLB and how they handle issues, is whenever they have the opportunity to just roundhouse kick players under the bus, they do it as soon as they can,” stated May on how MLB is handling using pitchers using “sticky substances.”

May admitted that he has tried a type of sticky substance in the past to see if it worked for him or not and if it made gripping the ball better or not, but didn’t like it. He said he prefers the dryness of the ball, not the moist, sticky feeling. He stated that the use of substances does exist, but isn’t close to as big of a deal as it’s being made out to be.

“It turned out to be a PR problem and (MLB) is choosing to take drastic action out of nowhere.” May said it goes along with MLB changing the baseballs whenever and however they want to in order to achieve what they want, or get the “end game” that MLB wants to happen. “They do that. They did that when they juiced them in ‘19, they did that when they deadened them this year. Instead of knowing that that’s clearly one of the main issues or the lack of offense this year, we’re going to blame it on sticky stuff.”

During his time speaking on the decision, May also elaborated on how pitchers are having to defend themselves from being accused of essentially “cheating”.

“There’s crazy stuff out there now with sticky stuff that gains advantage & that needs to be nipped in the bud, but of course it’s being turned into this firestorm where anyone that’s good is being accused. Now we’re in this perpetual defending ourselves bullshit.”

He stated that according to the media and to sources, pitchers are all being made out to be guilty until proven innocent, stating that MLB could’ve handled things differently and better. “Instead, they (MLB) saw an opportunity to villainize players and took it. That’s where we are, MLB stoking the fire.”

May elaborated, saying the issue that MLB is making this situation out to be isn’t even as big of a deal as it’s being made right now. He is among a handful of pitchers who are irritated and feel like they’re being attacked, accused, and now rid of the way they’re used to pitching.

May is in favor of there being a standardization, similar to the use of rosin or pine tar on the bats, and he said balls should be prepped and standardized. “Most pitchers want to go out there and want a consistent feeling on their hand.” They want it for comfort. “I think standardizing something, meaning this is as far as you can go with, otherwise there will be a harsh penalty, stated May.”

With this new ruling in play, all eyes will be on pitchers and how they perform in the next few weeks, as well as whether or not batters begin to have an advantage over pitchers.