Mets' Drew Smith shares bold claim about sticky-stuff ejection

New York Mets relief pitcher Drew Smith insisted he's not the only person baffled by his "sticky-stuff" ejection during Tuesday's 7-6 loss to the New York Yankees. 

According to Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post, Smith told reporters following Tuesday's defeat that he had an MLB official check his hands for alleged foreign substances. 

"I kind of forced him to feel my hands as I walked in," Smith explained. "He actually laughed and said there was nothing there." 

A seemingly stunned Smith also had teammates examine both hands on the field seconds after he was tossed from Tuesday's affair. Meanwhile, Sanchez noted that crew chief Bill Miller said after the game that Smith "had the stickiest hands...he has touched this season" and that other members of the crew agreed with that assessment. 

"I think if something's sticky, it's illegal," Miller added, per ESPN and the Associated Press. "They cannot manipulate the rosin. They can't use foreign substance. I don't know what was on his hand. But his hand was sticky to the touch, where my hand stuck to his hand."

Smith, who faces an automatic 10-game suspension similar to what Mets co-ace Max Scherzer served earlier in the campaign, didn't understand why he was popped on Tuesday after he hadn't experienced any issues throughout the spring. 

"They said both of my hands were too sticky," Smith remarked. "Really surprised, because I haven't done anything different all year. Sweat and rosin. I don't know what else to say. Nothing changed. It's just, I think the process is so arbitrary. It can change from one crew to the other, and I think that's the main issue."

The "sweat and rosin" defense did Scherzer little good back in April and likely won't help Smith's cause in the middle of June. 

"I think we're all angry about this one," Scherzer said about the latest ejection involving a Mets pitcher. "You feel [Smith's] hand, you don't feel anything. He's been cleared by every other umpire and now all of a sudden he's getting thrown out. I double down on this in saying that there's got to be a spin-rate component to getting an ejection."

Smith was thrown out as he took the mound for the seventh inning, so one will never know if his spin rates would've differed against the Yankees compared to earlier in the year. Assuming he's banned, the 31-36 Mets won't be permitted to fill his roster spot during the suspension.