Buck Showalter: Crackdown on pitcher substances has ‘gone too far,’ poses danger to batters

Mets manager Buck Showalter earned praise from fans during the team’s first series of the season for his impassioned defense of a Mets player who was hit by a pitch against the Nationals. The hit by pitch, up near Francisco Lindor’s head, was the second one of the young season, and the longtime skipper in his first year with the Mets had already seen enough.

But the Mets’ luck in the hit-by-pitch department hasn’t gotten better. New York leads the league with 12 hit by pitches in nine games — four more than any other team in baseball as of Sunday afternoon. 

Buck Showalter leads team out of dugout in a hurry after Francisco Lindor gets hit in the face by pitch.

Benches cleared in Washington.

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— Bloop Curve (@BloopCurve) April 9, 2022

On Friday, Showalter was asked about the team’s propensity to get plunked by pitches, and instead of praising his hitters for taking the free base, he criticized Major League Baseball for its recent crackdown on pitcher substances — one he believes has led to an increase of dangerous hit by pitches. 

“Let’s be frank about it,” Showalter said on WFAN’s “Carton & Roberts.” “Gripping a baseball, the pitchers took it too far with the Spider Tack and made it a pitching advantage with spin rate and everything, and now I’m not so sure we haven’t gone too far the other way. Trying to grip a baseball that’s been rubbed with mud in April and early May and October is real slick. The rosin just doesn’t do as much as you think. Somehow I think we’ve gone too far.”

Last season, MLB harshened punishments for pitchers using foreign substances on the baseball. The league instituted checks by umpires to ensure pitchers don’t have foreign substances on their bodies. If caught, pitchers are ejected and receive a 10-game suspension. 

Showalter wants a “universal” substance that gives pitchers better grip of the baseball but doesn’t allow them to manipulate the ball to gain an unfair advantage. 

“I’ve always pushed for a universal pitching rag behind the mound where guys can tap their fingers, and you won’t have guys getting hit nearly as much. I think a lot of hit-by-pitches are guys can’t grip the baseball,” Showalter said.

“Let’s say everybody hit without batting gloves, pine tar and wraps around your bat. Because a pitcher is supposed to have his tool without gripping it, yet a batter can do whatever he wants to grip a bat. Just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”