D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
Every team in baseball will be affected by the crackdown that the Giants will witness for the first time tonight, when Anthony DeSclafani shows his cap, belt, glove and whatever else to an umpire, the Giants starter perhaps looking to the side and coughing, too, to complete the check-up. Every reliever who enters the game will be evaluated as well, as the umpires are now in charge of keeping the game clean — literally.
The Spider Tack and various other substances used to gain a grip that has made pitches move in ways they never have will no longer be silently allowed. Nor will even sunscreen, which pitchers would mix with rosin to gain a grip that even hitters were OK with. Rosin is the only allowed substance for pitchers who want to control their pitches, and a 10-game suspension is on the line for those caught with anything foreign.
DeSclafani will be the first Giant to be tested when he takes the mound at Angel Stadium on Tuesday, but the crackdown has been unofficially instituted since a June 3 owners meetings, out of which word leaked that pitchers would need to clean up their fingers. Before that meeting, Giants pitchers cumulatively averaged 2,145 Revolutions Per Minute, according to Statcast data. After that date, the Giants’ average spin rate is 2,087 RPM.
There are obvious variables involved here: The staff is not the same. Relievers have been shuffled up and down — Sammy Long did not throw a major league pitch prior to June 3; spin rates can be somewhat volatile even from outing to outing. So a drop of 58 RPM is notable, even if it’s not dramatic or damning.
What it might be is encouraging.
“I think our team is really in a great position to benefit from this and not have to alter anything, because we truly don’t rely on it,” catcher Curt Casali said last week. “…I’m really interested to see how the rest of the league is affected by it, but I feel really good about our staff.”
Kevin Gausman, their ace, has had fairly consistent spin rates throughout his career and said he’s “not worried.” He suggested some on the staff may make an adjustment but was pretty welcoming of the crackdown.
“I feel like our pitching staff in general is in a really good spot going forward. We don’t have any guys that really use it,” Gausman said last week, before shifting tone. “I think even the guys who maybe do, I think it’s a quick fix to not use it. I don’t think there’s anybody that really relies on it, like some others [in baseball] do.”
The exception may be Alex Wood, who has struggled mightily with his slider, his best pitch, this month. On Saturday, the lefty who came over from the Dodgers repeatedly traded balls with the home-plate umpire, looking for ones he could grip better. He relied more upon his changeup — which is less spin-dependent — and less on his slider, but struggled with command in his third poor start in four this month.
Wood’s spin rate on his slider has been inconsistent this season, peaking April 23 in seven innings of brilliance against the Marlins (an average 2,325 RPM) but plunging in his next outing, when he averaged 2,053 RPM with the slider in a good outing against the Rockies. The spin rate on the offering had declined in each June start before Saturday, when it was back at 2,134 RPM.
While Wood said he is not a pitcher who has used sticky substances to skyrocket spin rates — for which Trevor Bauer is the avatar — he suggested losing the ability to use simpler substances to get a good hold of baseballs is a challenge.
“It’s like playing golf and then somebody telling you you can’t use a grip on your golf club anymore,” Wood said.
If he has to make an adjustment, the Giants’ offense is glad others do, too.
Coincidentally or not, their bats have come alive the past week, having just finished a seven-game homestand in which they averaged nearly eight and a half runs per contest. Their weakness all season has been hitting breaking pitches, and breaking pitches across the league have gotten less dirty (literally, too) and easier to hit.
Donovan Solano had emerged as not just a major league player but a star with the Giants the past few seasons and became known for handling velocity like so few can. Yet, opposing teams have given him a steady dosage of breaking balls this year that have baffled him: In plate appearances that end with breaking balls, he is 6-for-47 (.128) this season. He batted .319 against those pitches a year ago.
“I’ve seen the pitchers get better, there is no doubt about that,” the Silver Slugger second baseman said through translator Erwin Higueros. “I have seen that the pitches move more this year. I don’t know if it’s because they’re using the sticky stuff, but once they stop using it, we’re going to see if there’s a slight change in movement on the baseballs.”
As a team, the Giants are batting .180 off breaking pitches, with a .564 OPS. The offensive approach surrounds doing damage to pitches they can hit hard and laying off the rest, and a lot of devastating sliders and curveballs have been ignored. Mike Yastrzemski is batting .137 on breaking pitches; Wilmer Flores .143.
The crackdown will affect Giants pitching, but their belief is not nearly as much as it will affect Giants hitting.