Why Baseball’s Substance Rule Could Ruin the Brewers’ Season
Tampa Bay Rays’ pitcher Tyler Glasnow is one of the best young pitchers in baseball. On Monday night in a showdown matchup with Lance Lynn, he ended up having to leave the game early. Glasnow is now dealing with a partial tear in his UCL ligament and will be out for a long time. That ligament is the one that if you tear, you need Tommy John surgery. Glasnow ripped Major League Baseball yesterday for its handling of the substance rule noting that he never tried to make himself better, rather, he did things to get a better grip on the baseball. This has me thinking about the Milwaukee Brewers and their pitching staff. And it makes me really nervous that something bad might happen.
Tyler Glasnow is NOT happy about being forced to stop using sticky substances for better grip (pt.1) pic.twitter.com/m33D9uldt2
— Sports by Tampa Bay Times (@TBTimes_Sports) June 15, 2021
If you think about what the Brewers are right now, they’re guided by the pitching staff. Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes, and Freddy Peralta are three of the best starters in baseball. The three-headed monster is drawing praise nationally, and people believe it to be one of the best in baseball. They’re the reason that Milwaukee is one of the better teams in baseball especially over the last 20 games (Let’s forget what happened against Cincinnati this week). But what if they have the same issue as Glasnow with the inability to do their routine and something pops? It’s also alarming that three pitchers in two days have left games with forearm and elbow issues. Glasnow, Matthew Boyd, and Tucker Davidson.
My hope is that the Brewers are being proactive and working with the pitchers on different things they can do now that this has happened. Milwaukee has been great about their pitchers staying healthy and not having these major arm problems. Peralta noted to the media yesterday that ‘We (Pitchers) have to figure it out and follow the rules.’ He seems to be on board. But what’s happening around baseball should be a red flag to the Brewers’ pitching coaches. Do whatever is possible to make it feel normal for these guys.
Let’s hope that nothing bad happens over the next week or so. I think it’s going to be a brutal two or three-week stretch here for pitchers. Let’s hope I’m wrong and hope that the Brewers aren’t part of it.
Charlie.