Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell is going to bat for major league pitchers.
The skipper and former pitching coach is hoping that the league adopts a new policy that would allow pitchers to use an approved substance that affords them the luxury of getting a better grip on the ball.
"I would like to see an approved substance that pitchers can use. Because, when we take a manufactured baseball, and rub it with dirt, it's going to create a slippery feeling to it," Farrell told Ian Browne of MLB.com. "The mud residue leaves a film on it that you don't necessarily feel a good, consistent grip - unless you go to a ball like the one used in Japan where it's got a tacky feel to it.
"But I'd like to see something that's approved that everyone can use. I think if you poll any hitter, the hitter wants to know that the ball's got a grip. The ball's not going to get away from (the pitcher)."
Both Will Smith of the Milwaukee Brewers and Brian Matusz of the Baltimore Orioles were handed eight-game suspensions in the past week after they were caught with a foreign substance on their arms.
Smith defended himself, saying that he used the substance to get more grip on the ball, not to use it as a way to get a competitive advantage. Farrell agrees.
"I don't think a grip gives you an ability to make the ball do different things," Farrell said. "You're looking for feel in the hand and overall command. And a grip. I think if you even ask a hitter, they're not going to say that a substance makes a ball do different things. It's not like scuffing it. Now, as long as it's a tacky substance. Not vaseline, where you've got spitter action."
