MLB’s Biggest Cheaters Are in Big Trouble

My favorite thing about being a twins fan is that there is literally no way anyone is cheating because everyone is so bad.

Pitcher: Cheats
Gets called out
Pitcher: But baseball is Hard!

"I got hurt because I stopped cheating" has to be the stupidest grievance anybody could put forth.

I don't even watch baseball of any league, but these videos are so good that I've been binge watching a ton of content from this channel. Great stuff!

I will say this for the foreign substance issue: Many pitchers came out and have begged MLB to allow them a substance to use to have some sort of control in colder months, like april and september and october. When you get pitchers who can routinely reach upper 90s, low 100s, you sure as hell don't want one of them uncorking a wild pitch and killing someone. Since the MLB made pitch clocks, the anit-shifting rule, and how many times a pitcher can throw over(all of which helps the offensive numbers), the pitchers need a help, especially with control.

To be fair Trevor Bauer created the best substance and said he was going to do so to make a mockery of how absurd the problem had gotten

“It’s just so hard to grip the ball “🤣

i'd like to see the data on how much spin rate varied game to game or month to month for these pitchers prior to the change. I suspect that absent foreign substances, any pitcher's spin rate for a given pitch should vary relatively little growing or declining in terms of several seasons only. If experience, age or physical condition was the predominate factor, then spin rate changes should be predictable and roughly uniform across the league and over time.

Pete Rose banned for life for actions AFTER his playing career (and he NEVER bet against his own team), but chronic cheaters and their teams are left unpunished despite wilfully disgracing the game.

As a baseball guy, when Cole left the pirates and became a beast I knew something was up, just couldn’t believe that a guy that bad can become that good. He was awful with the pirates

Otahni could very well be due to more hitters getting to consistently see his pitches and the breaks. You have to remember yes, he's been here for 3*(short season really shouldn't count but oh well) years but he pitched sparingly his first year then got hurt. Last year I dont think he pitched more like then 4 times if he pitched at all. This year is the first true season where he's taking the ball every 5th day so naturally over time professional hitters are going to get more accustomed to the way his pitches break and his tendencies....
Just my thoughts

I remember how umpires would often check Gaylord Perry and sometimes make him towel down on the pitching mound.
Gaylord said he “never used a foreign substance, it was always American made.”

Those Ohtani stats are a bit misleading. He's had 4 starts since the crackdown, in three of them he pitched 6 or more innings while allowing 2 or fewer runs. The other one was his worst start of the year where he just didn't have it and got blown up for 7 runs in less than 1 inning. That is seriously inflating all his numbers. Outside of that one start, he's been just as good since the substance checks as he was before.

Can you PLEASE do a follow-up stats video on this one! This is/should be the largest narrative in baseball, even larger than the corruption behind the lock-out. Please please please do a follow-up on this after one or 2 months of the current season. Ignore the noise you inevitably received from this. Journalism before pressured content! Thanks for the great video, your channel is awesome!

Didn’t Shohei pass the umpire checks?
He seems like a pretty legit guy

I love that Cole is in his thirties but still says “for PETES sake”

Finger blistering has been a problem for pitchers - which often times place them on the IL for several weeks. To some degree, there should be some foreign substance than can be used as a form of preventive health measures. Pitching under dry conditions especially seem to be the catalyst for the loss of grip. Jorge De La Rosa (Who used to pitch in Colorado) is one example of suffering with this injury multiple times.

Weirdly enough 2022 had a lower Runs/Game, a lower OPS, a lower Slugging, lower Batting Average, less walks, and less home runs compared to 2021 so I'm not sure the cheating did as much to the game as everyone thinks/thought, it really just seems the juiced balls left so pitching gained the upper hand again, so they changed rules for shifts and pitch clocks hoping for more offence (we will probably see juiced balls again in the future)

Gerrit cole sounded like he was lagging out during his press conference

What I found the most interesting was that the origins of the modern "sticky stuff" pitchers are using today,bstarted being used in the late 1980's, and was drastically improved upon in the early 1990's by the players who learned from the originators (though the use of tacky substances, or certain adhesives, by both hitters and pictures goes back to the earliest days of the sport, the development and proliferation of the array of highly effective modern foreign substances had its earliest roots in the 1970s and 80s, and had scientific study and application of chemistry and physics in the 1990s) . The pitchers in this "second generational" of the originators of the use of these extremely sticky foreign substances used for better control of pitches, all made at least two all-star games, almost 90% of these pitchers were known more for their exceptional control and movement of the ball on their pitches (even those whose fastball was consistently in the high nineties as they broke into Major League rotations and/or bull pens), and almost half have a bust in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. What I found surprising was that even though these foreign substances were highly effective for the pictures who use them, and players around the leaves were aware of them, for the most part, for many years, the impressive efficacy of these substances was only understood by the relatively small number of pitchers who were using them, and a few of their teammates (usually just the one or two pitchers who were taught how to make and use them). It remained like this until around 2007 to 2010, when a few more pitching coaches, bullpen coaches, and disgruntled pitchers who were moved at the trade deadline, decided that their beleaguered starting rotations, or over worked bull pen arms, could benefit from a little... "Performance enhancement," that's didn't involve an elevated risk of kidney failure, liver failure, heart disease, or significantly elevated risk of some of the most terrifying cancers, not to mention the testing programs for performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball was quite effective and thorough by this time, most players, and most organizations, did not see the reward to be worth the risks. This, however, was not appreciably all that different from the pine tar, or the rosin bag, substances which can be found almost anywhere in a modern baseball clubhouse. In seven of the next 10 World Series played, both teams had multiple pictures utilizing the modern sticky stuff, and the other three World Series were one by the team on which the better pitching through modern chemistry mantra head proliferated. In fact, in one of the most recent World Series played while watching the network TV broadcast you could actually hear the sound of the adhesive as the ball was released by the pictures hand, and I pointed out to the friends of mine who were watching the game with me that you could identify a changeup being thrown by the starting pitcher because that sound was louder, as there is more, far more, contact between the pictures hand and fingers and the surface of the baseball for a changeup grip then the grip for most any other pitch.

I'm so happy to see some of these players getting exposed as cheaters but some their antics in protest has really shown how entitled this generation of ball players have become.

I'm a Giants fan but I don't think Ohtani or Scherzer is cheating, they're just really good

Lmfao “it’s so hard to grip the ball.” Do you have toddler hands or what? That was the funniest excuse I have ever heard.

They'll be fine. These guys are professionals and will make the adjustments. Hopefully the MLB better handles this in the off-season. But all we'll really see is a larger separation of the good and the great pitchers in the league going forward.

This guy is so underrated. The way he tells his stories and his voice are very unique

Could the reason that ohtanis spin-rate went down be that he sacrificed speed for control? He allowed way less walks in july than he did in previous month so far and the speed of his pitches also went down. I'm honest that I don't have much knowledge about what affects the spin-rate but I can imagine that this could be a reason.

Cole and Glasnow both admitted to cheating. One, "it's too hard to grip a baseball with my tiny hands" and the other "I had to change my grip because I can't cheat and then I got injured".

"I, for one, welcome our new umpire overlords..."
Seriously, though, I'm happy that they are cracking down on this. Every team has AT LEAST one or two pitchers cheating.

Can you do a video on Sean Manea’s no-hitter back in 2018. If you after every pitch he touched the left side of his jersey a lot like he had a substance hidden under it.

I’m soooo glad that the MLB is finally cracking down on this. We need more action in baseball, not more strikeouts

The hector Santiago issue isnt because the umpires thought he used a foreign substance, he just put rosin on his glove and you can’t put rosin anywhere but your hands. Glove, hat, belt, and everything else is banned.

19:54 and 20:09 the dreaded “media offline”. Trust me I know the struggle, love the content my man keep it up

I once heard a Twins commentator say that Taylor Rogers had tried foreign substance once in spring training, and said he didn’t like it because he was trying to decrease spin rate.

I love Josh Donaldson, he make everything crazy and controversial and fun

For the pitchers complaining about the crackdown on foreign substances, all I hear is, “Waaah, how dare you say I can’t cheat anymore!” They were cheating, now they’re in trouble. They’re getting EXACTLY what they deserve. Those who don’t cheat have little reason to complain.
Max Scherzer, on the other hand, is just being Max Scherzer, I think. NEVER get in his way when he is in the zone.

So, a couple years ago, I was pitching in my townball league. I was having big time control problems, so someone recommended putting tiger stick on my bat and quickly grabbing it with my fingers to avoid having the ball slip. I don't know if I had too much on my fingers, but all of a sudden, I was spiking my fastball at about 55 feet. It was awful. It made everything worse. There is a science to pitching with a sticky substance on your hand, it is not easy.

BDE, you've gotten really good at not repeating yourself throughout the video. Good work, dude. Your uploads are a must-watch right away.

Love the detail and research. Wish you got more recognition for your vids, keep up the great work!

Good video. As a Padres fan I noticed how Darvish would go 7 innings. After the checks, he was lucky to go 5 innings.

Im not an Astros fan (in fact im a Rangers fan) but I do think it would be funny if all the teams who complained about them cheating got caught using substances.

I can't believe that guy was tearing up saying, "it just so hard to grip the ball". Lmfaoooo if my little 8yr old nephew can grip the ball and throw it, I'm pretty sure a full grown man that's been playing the game his whole life can too..

Ozzie Guillen comes off looking like a vindictive cheating apologist fool. Essentially calling for pitchers to put at physical risk of serious injury anyone who dares to call out cheating by saying pitchers should hit a man who did call it out?? How pathetic is that. And then when Ozzie is called out for his inferior stats in an era where this cheating wasn't anywhere near as widespread, meaning it was easier to hit without the manipulation of cheating, he flashes his World Series rings as if that meant he was a superior player.
Ozzie Guillen is a joke.

I’d be curious to see a statistical approach. Quick maths check, Cole’s fastball spin in the month of July (used 2019 when he was peaking) to account for weather and implementation of checks is down -6.8% 2021 vs 2019. Breaking balls spin rate is down -2.4%. He’s threw 2.9% more pitches and one fewer hit. Hitters could be adjusting to the new movement. What would be interesting to see is what it this meets statistical significance. Depending on whether you break this down by pitch type, it’s borderline. Will also be good once we get more data of course.

Gerrit Cole had one bad outing after the ban then he shutout the astros and went 6 innings with 13ks against the Red Sox in his next two starts so I think pitchers are adapting back to no tack usage

Arnoldo’s Chapman was also getting older and couldn’t throw as fast anymore so I don’t think the only reason he got worse was foreign substances it was also age

Yo for real; Great video man. Can tell you did your research. Also thankful none of my Atlanta Braves pitchers are getting called out for this crap or at least aren't the high profile pitchers in the limelight for the wrong reasons. At least so far.

The system seems pretty good all things considered. F1 has a similar system of random weight checks for any car coming into the pits during a practice or qualifying session.

It makes you ask (in terms of Chapman); was he ever as dangerous as perceived? I know it’s crazy to ask but we kinda have to.

Bauer’s career is now changing for a different reason“COUGH”“COUGH”

How can nobody just love Josh Donaldson he’s a straight savage

I look at it like this, spider tack and pine tar should be treated like equipment. If you can use silicon batting gloves,lizard skin grips, and pine tar which can improve their swing then you should be able to use foreign substances in the same regard.

Lol Cole nearly crying about how he apparently has difficulty holding solid objects

As a Mets fan I can say that Diaz has been wild for a while.

I believe these pitchers should be able to use substances to help them get better grip, thus better spin on their pitches. I mean, it would make the game have better pitching battles and it would help make batters better!

Makes you think how many kids got screwed out of scholarships by other kids who knew about this stuff

Caveat to this comment: I think that the MLB tilts everything toward the batter as a catch-all to fix problems in the game. The whole thing with banning defensive shifts, for instance - they don't actually stop you scoring, they just mean you have to hit more intelligently rather than just swing harder. But apparently that's too rough on the batters so let's get rid of them! Anyway, with that said, and about this crackdown: I keep hearing "The rule has changed", but it hasn't really, they've just started enforcing it properly. Any kind of doctoring of the baseball has been banned for decades. For all the "it lets me get a better grip!" thing, there are two important notes: A., yeah, it does, and that makes you a better pitcher, therefore, the foreign substance is responsible for your success and you are therefore cheating, B., aside from giving you a better grip, it effects the trajectory of the baseball and provides an unfair advantage to the pitcher. It is partly the MLB's fault for turning such a blind eye before, pretending that the rule only exists if an opponent complains (it was always actually in the hands of the umpire, the opponent never had to say a word), which has resulted in it becoming so widespread and needing to be fixed. But it's mostly the pitcher's fault for deciding to cheat and then having the gall to complain when they can no longer get away with it.

MLB: has rules banning pitchers using foreign substances
Pitchers: use foreign substances anyway
MLB: starts to work harder to enforce the rules better
Pitchers: "ThAt'S nOT fAiR!"

I do think Santiago was cheating but I don’t think the sticky stuff was in his belt, he most likely kept touching it to keep and a comfortable position which would make sense why he did it while walking off the field

I enjoy a good pitching duel, but the foreign substances made that all to common. I do hope MLB adjusts the balls to help the pitchers out just a little. Work with them to see what's comfortable so players like Glasgow aren't able to say "I got hurt cause I can't cheat anymore." Just don't change the balls so much we don't have offense again.

I support it, being good with no substances is what separates great athletes from good athletes. That being said, I still think MLB should have a no holds barred portion of the season, where rules basically don’t exist. Sticky stuff, aluminum bats, steroids, you name it. I wanna see break measured in feet and balls leaving the field doing 120+.

In all fairness to Cole's answer, have you seen other interviews with him? He answers every question like that

Funny I was able to grip the ball all through high school and college without a foreign substance. I wasn't throwing 95, but 92 wasn't bad. Granted, I could never control that thing.

I remember forgetting my receiver gloves one Time. I felt like I was catching the ball with bricks.
I can only imagine what a change like that would do at a higher level.

Cole raised his ERA from 2.74 to 3.11 in his last start. It was like 2.30 when the ban went into place he's been getting killed.

to be fair ohtani has had only one bad start and that was against the yankees, other than that he has been amazing the entire year pitching, so that is what inflated those stats

U make great videos I haven't watched baseball in at least 12 years but I watch 6 of ur videos . U should make some on other sports also I'll subscribe for sure

This is pretty crazy but you can’t forget, baseball doesn’t exists

Something alot of people dont think about, they check the pitcher but not the catcher. He could just as well hide and apply .sticky stuff on the ball as the league dosent check them. Even though the umpires right behind them, they could still however apply some to there shin guards or on there face guard ..etc, just a thought.

I actually wouldn't mind if they allowed more substances to aid grip. It isn't a physical advantage, and it makes for way more interesting pitch movement.

As far as I'm concerned I think it would only help to be a more exciting game if batters are actually hitting the ball more versus not hitting the ball because the pitchers are so wickedly good at spin rate

Giolito has thrown just as many gems post-crackdown as he threw before the crackdown. Even with sticky stuff, he was struggling. Hes been inconsistent and his ERA has been back and forth between the low 4s and the high 3s all year, but his lowest ERA for the season came in late July (3.67). Do better research

I don't follow sports let alone baseball but I still injoy your video's which means you must be doing something right

New Title: Pitchers start crying because they have to play by the rules.

One thing we know is that MLB has made changes when hitters struggle and make changes when pitchers struggle. I expect next year the rule change will be in favor of hitters.

There was no altercation between Max Scherzer and Joe Girardi. Joe Girardi was trying to pick a fight with one of the Nats coaches. That coach happened to be with Girardi when he was coaching the Yankees as part of the coaching staff.

Love watching these spin rates going down! Makes for more exciting games!

Imagine if you could put eye drops in that would allow you to perceive the balls rotation and trajectory easier making it easier to get hits off. So then every pitcher would immediately be giving up more runs. Tell me how cheated every pitcher would feel if they were forced to play against that every game. Pretty much was the case but just the roles reversed.

Ozzie Guillén most definitely has TWO World Series rings, not three, and no one seems to have noticed this at the time or since.

My favorite part about this lockdown is how some batters who looked like they were about to retire after this year are doing better now

22:30, here we are a year later and Chapman still can’t throw strikes.

Hurts to see Garrett Richards on here knowing him personally and that he’s one of the few good guys in baseball that’s a pitcher and I was excited to see him possibly bounce back with my Red Sox but everything said about him I can’t disagree with. I feel like the control for pitchers is only going to get worse which means the safety for hitters will only be more in danger and I’m hoping they take action like they did with the home plate buster posey thing when something just as bad happens to a hitter facing a pitcher with high velocity like Cole or Chapman or even Othani

Josh Donaldson has every right, and I think he just may have became my favorite player

Can I just say I love Josh Donaldson? After having watched a vid about his life and upbringing I really like him, and that Giolito thing is hilarious. Gets called out for not saying it to his face, so he goes and says it to his face. That's some boss shit

Ohtani's stats is a bit misleading. Hes basically had one bad inning since the check. And 3 extra ER was given up because his reliver gave up double that cleared the base. He had 8k in 6innings plus no ER in his last outting.

I love watching Max Scherzer play and do all the other crazy he does.

I wonder if the Yankees can legally void Gerrit Cole contract because they paided him all that money while he was using a foreign substance it would be pretty interesting to see that play out

The MLB created this monster themselves by pushing offense and endless run scoring as the only objective. They backed pitchers in to a corner and now are surprised that they are getting around their rules. On the other hand, cheating is cheating and nobody would have been hurt and no one would be suffering a drop in performance if they had followed the rules in the first place. All of them running back like they're mainlining the stuff is embarrassing. Making sure people are following the rules should've been the priority from the start. When it's an afterthought it makes it less effective.

Most big time pitchers as well as great football quarterbacks have huge hands. These are the guys that will continue to be good without cheating.

The only thing Ozzie Guillen knows about hitting is that he couldn't do it

the mental/psychological impact + added pressure/less confidence + having to re-work all of your grips will constitute at least a portion of this depending on the player; although it is likely 50-75% because of the grip enhancements

The audacity to say it's not fair that we can't cheat anymore! Ludicrous

Since the Indians changed their name everyone was talking about the opening scene in the movie “Major League” being a Guardian statue in Cleveland. While everyone was talking about that, I was thinking about the scene where Harris was explaining to Vaughn how he loads up a baseball to get “a couple more inches on his curveball” he said he used crisco, vagisil, and jalapeño juice which he then rubbed on his nose to get his nose running. He called it a snot ball. It’s just funny how fans have made their own rules about what’s okay cheating and what’s not. Even tho baseball players have been doing all this stuff since the beginning. Lately seems like everyone has turned into a steroids apologist.

Could there be 1 regulated substance that helps players get a grip on the ball? Like using chalk in Hillary’s, powerlifting, or climbing? Any sport you use your hands heavily there’s usually some kind of chalk or powder to decrease sweat i don’t see why baseball players must play raw when you can arguably get very sweaty in a baseball game mid summer.

I was expecting bigger drops in spin rate tbh considering so many pitchers had increased it by hundreds in the lead up.

"Wow, these great pitchers can't play well without cheating! How unfair!"
Yeah? Well, if you need to cheat, you're no a great pitcher.

"Stared him down and tipped his hat after each one" no he was just applying more spider tack LOL

I'm such a big fan of yours dude. I just bought a Cannadip and I don't even dip. Your content is amazing.

I think it’s bizarre you think shohei had a part in the cheating, his performance has not altered a bit since the ban.

I didn’t even know wheelchair rugby was a thing. That’s pretty badass

As a cards fan I thought for a few years leading up to 2011 that he was strangely good.