Rich Hill accuses union of not supporting players in the case of illegal substances in balls

CHICAGO – The veteran pitcher of the Tampa Bay Rays, Rich hill, indicated that the players union “dropped the ball” in relation to the Major League Baseball (MLB) announcement about substances to improve grip on balls.

Major League Baseball indicated that pitchers will be expelled and suspended for 10 games starting next Monday for using illegal substances to adulterate balls.

“This is the fault of the players association,” the 41-year-old pitcher said before Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox. “This is where something should have been done. The players association had the opportunity to work with the Major Leagues and the Major Leagues beat the players and it is unfortunate that this happened. “

Hill said it was a bit hopeless that the move was taken without the approval of the players or the union.

“I feel like (MLB and the union) should have gotten together and sorted this out, handled it like professionals. I feel like a rule change in the middle of the season is very difficult for everyone around the league, ”he added.

On March 23, Major League Baseball instructed teams to increase monitoring and take steps that included collecting balls used in games and analyzing ball spin data with data from Statcast.

The midseason changes come during the final year of the current owner-player collective bargaining agreement, which Hill did not rule out as a factor.

“We all know what’s coming and part of it wants me to think of it as a distraction to turn batters and pitchers against each other, which, again, is not going to help the growth of the sport at all,” Hill explained.

“We all want the best for baseball. We want to make this sport grow ”, he added.

The commissioner’s office, responding to record strikeout numbers and a batting average at its lowest point in more than 50 years, indicated that minor league and major league umpires will begin to regularly check all pitchers, without import which rival managers have not asked to inspect them.

Although the suspensions would be without pay, repeat offenders would receive progressive discipline and club teams and employees would be subject to penalties for failure to comply.

“My argument is that when there are hundreds of games that are humid and very hot, we have a bag of rosin. When the temperature is -1 degree centigrade (30 Fahrenheit) and the cold is freezing, we have the rosin bag, ”said Hill. “It’s something that has been talked about with a lot of openness in baseball, between pitchers and hitters, in a combined way, (a feeling) that the rosina bag is not enough.”

Tyler glasnow, a Tampa Bay pitcher who was diagnosed with a partial tear of a ligament in his elbow, attributed his injury to adaptation in the face of reinforcing the rule on the balls.

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