Mets’ Max Scherzer suspended 10 games for violating MLB rules on use of foreign substances

Mets pitcher Max Scherzer argues with umpires Phil Cuzzi, center, and Dan Bellino after being ejected from a game against the Dodgers on Wednesday for having a foreign substance on his hand. When umpires inspected Scherzer’s hand before the fourth, “the level of stickiness was much worse than it was even in the initial inspection that had taken place two innings prior,” home plate umpire and crew chief Dan Bellino said. “This was the stickiest that it has been since I’ve been inspecting hands, which now goes back three seasons.” Scherzer told Bellino and first base umpire Phil Cuzzi repeatedly that the stickiness was caused by “sweat and rosin, sweat and rosin,” but under baseball’s enhanced enforcement of rules prohibiting the use of foreign substances by pitchers, rosin can be considered a foreign substance if it is misapplied or excessively used. Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, said in Thursday’s news release that umpires concluded “the level of stickiness during the fourth-inning check was so extreme that it was inconsistent with the use of rosin and/or sweat alone.” Scherzer told reporters in San Francisco: “I thought I was gonna get in front of a neutral arbitrator but I wasn’t. How does possibly know?” Scherzer’s suspension was the first under baseball’s enhanced sticky stuff rules since 2021, when Seattle left-hander Hector Santiago and Arizona right-hander Caleb Smith were ejected and suspended for 10 games.