By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Kyle Lobstein had an admission, but it had nothing to do with foreign substances.
“I don’t know if I’m embarrassed to say, but I have sweaty hands, so I need to dry my hands off,” Lobstein said after Wednesday’s win over Buffalo. “I just try and put some dirt on it, or rosin, and I’m good to go.”
As Major League Baseball ramps up its crackdown on the application of foreign substances to baseballs, the 31-year-old Lobstein said his regimen is limited to the legal materials available to him on the mound. He does not expect any of his Rochester Red Wings teammates to be levied a 10-game suspension, the penalty MLB introduced to those who continue using any substance-even sunscreen-to help grip the ball.
“Fortunately for myself, I’ve been able to compete without needing to use any kind of stuff like that,” Lobstein commented. “It’s not like we go to each other and really say, ‘What’s this? What’s that? What can we get away with?’ It’s real now, so there’s gonna be repercussions.
“Obviously it’s something that we’re gonna have to deal with no matter what, and I think on an individual basis, it’s just gonna be something that gets played with throughout the year trying to figure it out.”
Rochester manager Matthew LeCroy has been in professional baseball for 24 years and recognizes that while power lifting adhesive Spider Tack is relatively new to the sport, doctored balls certainly aren’t. Well before LeCroy debuted in Minnesota in 2000, pitchers used spit, pine tar, Vaseline, talcum powder, sandpaper and other outside methods to gain an edge.
LeCroy noted that as a former hitter, he is against pitchers doctoring the ball to gain a competitive advantage. On the other hand, he also caught 124 major league games and shares concerns throughout the game about the dangers of pitchers being unable to gain a proper grip.
“I do have some concerns about guys throwing a baseball without having a proper grip, just for safety of the hitter,” LeCroy acknowledged. “You get hit by pitches really at an all-time high right now, and guys are throwing the ball extremely hard with not much command. I do have concerns about the grip.
“As long as I’ve played guys have used a combination of rosin and pine tar; you kind of had to sneak it. If it gives you an advantage and guys are using it for the wrong reasons, I can really see where we need to hone in and make sure we don’t give those advantages. But as far as figuring out some way for these guys to get a proper grip, I do think we need to look at that because I’d hate to see somebody, their career ended because we couldn’t grip the baseball properly.”
LeCroy called adherence to the new regulations a “personal choice” but added that he hopes his players don’t risk suspensions that could damage their chances of being promoted to Washington. For Rochester, which has won five of its last eight games, pitching numbers have not drastically changed since MLB announced its new plan. In fact, Lobstein and three other relievers combined to two-hit Buffalo the day after the league put pitchers on notice.
“You hate any kind of sudden changes like they’ve kind of done right here, so I’m sure there’ll be an adjustment period,” LeCroy said. “Kind of anxious to see where this thing goes.”
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