Nick Castellanos has been one of the best hitters in MLB this season, and that is despite the league doing its best to help out pitchers.
MLB has said it would be making an effort to crackdown on pitchers using illegal foreign substances on the ball. However, aside from one notable instance, they have hardly policed the matter. Castellanos believes MLB is knowingly allowing pitchers to cheat with foreign substances, as he said on "The Chris Rose Rotation" podcast:
“Is it illegal or is not illegal to put stuff on a ball?
“It’s illegal. The league obviously knows that they are doing it, but the league doesn’t care. They don’t care because if it was really a problem that they wanted, they would put people in the bullpen to check gloves, to check hats, whatever. The league would do something about it. But honestly, I don’t think it’s that important to them.”
Batting averages across MLB are down to .236 as a whole, which is the lowest it has ever been. Pitchers are using substances that allows them to improve their spin rates, giving them sharper breaks on their off-speed stuff. That makes it harder for hitters to hit.
Castellanos feels MLB knows what a difference it makes, but they are choosing not to do anything about it. Personally, Castellanos isn’t fixating on the issue, because he feels it would put him at a mental disadvantage. He is batting .361 with 12 home runs this season.
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