KANSAS CITY — With a crackdown on pitchers’ use of illegal foreign substances looming, Josh Donaldson has spoken with Major League Baseball officials about the problem.
The Twins third baseman said Friday on a video call with reporters that he has offered the league insight on what he thinks is one of the biggest issues facing the game. Prepared with statistical evidence to back his observations, Donaldson believes the only way for MLB to enforce a ban would be with constant policing by umpires.
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“If you want to clean the game up — because to me, this is going to be the next steroids of baseball ordeal, because it is cheating and it is performance-enhancing — the only way they get it through and to get it out of the game is if they get checked every half-inning,” Donaldson said. “If a new pitcher comes out, they get checked immediately by the umpire. Once they start doing that, it’ll be gone, and you’re going to start seeing offense come back into the game.”
Donaldson hasn’t been shy about voicing his opinion on illegal substances, which can significantly improve a pitcher’s grip and, therefore, greatly enhance his spin rate. After umpire Joe West inspected and confiscated the hat worn by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Giovanny Gallegos on May 26, Donaldson took to Twitter to say “Stop cheating!!” before promising an “entire catalog of video” of pitchers caught in the act.
Crazy idea here but I’m going to throw it out there. Stop cheating!!
— Josh Donaldson (@BringerOfRain20) May 27, 2021
Speaking to the media for the first time since, Donaldson on Friday said he doesn’t have an issue with pitchers using rosin, sunscreen or even pine tar to better grip the baseball. But citing figures that the league is on pace to break its single-season record for walks and hit by pitches, Donaldson does not believe pitchers are using the substances solely to improve command.
“What these guys are doing now (is) performance-enhancing, to where it is an actual superglue-type of ordeal,” Donaldson said. “It’s not about command. Now, it’s about who’s throwing the nastiest pitches, the more unhittable pitches. It’s proven.”
Donaldson, who has played catcher in more than 400 professional games in his career, including 10 in the majors, has observed an increase in recent seasons in the way pitches move. It’s a topic he has discussed with fellow veteran Nelson Cruz. If his conclusions were based only on his subjective opinions, Donaldson may not have felt as free to speak up on the subject. But with Statcast data to back his claims, Donaldson wants to see the league enforce its rules.
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“When something is different, we pick that up,” Donaldson said. “It would be like sending a counterfeit $20 bill to a bank teller that’s had 20 years of experience. That person’s going to know that’s not real. So, as a hitter, in the experience I’ve developed over the years, I know when a fastball should not be moving like that or a slider should not be doing that.”
Donaldson also casually noted the decline in spin rate in Gerrit Cole’s start Thursday, two days after an Associated Press story reported that four minor-league pitchers had been suspended this season for using an illegal substance. Noting that Cole has been a past target of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer, Donaldson wondered aloud if the New York Yankees pitcher saw a drop because he was concerned about getting caught using illegal substances. According to Baseball Savant, Cole saw a 125-RPM decrease in his four-seam fastball, a 78-RPM dip on his knuckle curve, a 77-RPM drop on his changeup and a 48-RPM loss on his slider.
“Is it coincidence that Gerrit Cole’s spin rate numbers went down (Thursday) after four minor leaguers got suspended for 10 games?” Donaldson said. “Is that possible? I don’t know. Maybe. At the same time, with this situation, they’ve let guys do it.”
Donaldson said he simply wants to see more enforcement by umpires. If that were to happen, Donaldson believes pitchers would not be striking out batters at the same rate as they are, offensive performance would improve and pitchers with inflated numbers would come back to earth.
“You’re going to see contact come back into the game,” Donaldson said. “And a lot of these guys that are not as good as their numbers are saying will be out of the game. They’ll be done. And that’s where it should be, because guys are blatantly cheating and it’s not even funny. You’re talking about guys whose careers hitting-wise are going down as well.”
With parents in crowd, Nick Gordon puts on a show
He was already having a great individual night with his parents in attendance. Then Nick Gordon took it up a level.
Facing Wade Davis with nobody on in the eighth inning, Gordon swatted an 89-mph cutter below the zone out over the center field fence for the first home run of his major-league career. It was one of the few Twins highlights in an otherwise ugly 14-5 loss to the Kansas City Royals at Kauffmann Stadium.
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With both his mother, Yolanda Maloy, and father, Royals fan-favorite Tom “Flash” Gordon, in attendance, Nick finished 3 for 4.
“I was just glad that both my parents got to see it, got to see me play,” Gordon said. “This is actually the first time they both got to see me play at the same time. My mom got in (Thursday) and my dad got in (Friday). It was very special. And my dad started here, he was drafted by the Royals. It means a lot to our family.”
Drafted by Kansas City in 1986, Tom Gordon went 79-71 over parts of eight seasons, including earning 17 wins in 1989 and finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting. Wearing a Twins visor as he walked through the stands, the elder Gordon said he flew in early Friday to surprise his son.
Tom admitted to feeling some nerves. But he also is ecstatic to see Nick, the Twins’ first-round pick in 2014, overcome myriad health issues, including gastritis, which dropped his weight to as low as 153 pounds.
“It’s probably more nerve-wracking for me than anything else,” Tom said. “I want every ball he hits out of the ‘park. I want every ball to be hit hard. He sure better not make no errors, because then I’m fussing about that.”
The two connected early Friday at the team hotel and then again during batting practice. Tom made sure his son remembered to get his front foot down. Afterward, Nick said he was extremely focused during Friday’s game in a park he’d visited prior to his own playing career.
“My dad was in the same ballpark however many years ago, man, and just to know that I could be here now,” Nick said. “My brother (Dee Strange-Gordon) got the chance to play here and I remember coming here even when my dad was on different teams and he would play there. They always brought us back just because this is where he started and it definitely means a lot to our family.”
(Photo: 2021 George Kubas / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
