Report: Suspicious baseballs thrown by Bauer submitted for testing
Multiple baseballs thrown by Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Trevor Bauer on Wednesday were collected by umpires and submitted to Major League Baseball for inspection, sources told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
The balls reportedly had visible markings and were sticky, which prompted the game officials to collect them.
It's unclear how many balls were collected and if Bauer can ultimately be held accountable if a foreign substance is found after testing. It's also unknown if other pitchers have had balls they've thrown submitted for testing.
MLB announced in March it would be taking extra steps in monitoring baseballs to prevent the application of added substances. The league is also using Statcast data to analyze spin rates, especially for pitchers suspected of doctoring balls.
Bauer, who has had an adversarial relationship with commissioner Rob Manfred, did not immediately comment but did take issue with the report Thursday evening on Twitter.
Lol always fun reading desperate and misleading clickbait headlines from national gossip bloggers. To translate fake journalist speak for y’all, “It’s unclear whether” = “I can’t be bothered to look into this cuz it doesn’t fit my narrative.” 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️ wonder where the articles about
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) April 9, 2021
"Wonder where the articles about balls from every other pitcher being taken out of play in literally every other game this season are?" Bauer continued. "Also lol to MLB who already has 'sources' talking to gossip bloggers about a supposedly confidential process a week into the season ... Thumbs up y'all keep killin it."
A source told Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times that the Major League Baseball Players Association would challenge any discipline for Bauer that is not covered under current rules. The source added that any information leaks could risk undermining cooperation between MLB and the players' union on potential rules changes, according to Shaikin.
Bauer signed a 3-year, $102-million contract with the Dodgers this offseason. The 30-year-old is 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA and 0.69 WHIP in 13 innings across two starts in 2021.