Pine Tar: For Hitters AND Pitchers?

 Pine Tar's Impact on Today's Game

by: Adam Jeannette

What is Pine Tar?

    -Pine tar has been used in the game of baseball for as long as the game has been around. It is a sticky substance intended to be used for grip on the bat. It is legal for hitters to use on their bats, but not for pitchers to use in any way. Although this is the original intention behind pine tar, pitchers have been sneaking pine tar and other sticky substances onto their gloves, belts, hats, and even their neck to use it as an advantage for years. Baseball is a game of getting every slight advantage possible against your opponent, and pine tar does just that for pitchers. 


Michael Pineda caught for pine tar on his neck

Why is it Used by Pitchers?
    -Pine tar is used by pitchers for different reasons than hitters. Even though it may slightly help with gripping the ball for each pitch, this is not the main reason behind its use with pitchers. Looking back on my last blog post, Spin Efficiency- What is it and Why Does it Matter?, spin rate is obviously an important part of today's game. This is where pine tar can really help a pitcher since it has been proven by science to increase the spin rate on different pitches. This can benefit a high spin efficiency fastball by adding more movement to the pitch, whether it be horizontal break or induced vertical break. The same is to be said for breaking balls where more spin normally adds more movement to the pitch. 


Yusei Kikuchi with pine tar on brim of hat


How is it Enforced?
    -This is the biggest gray area in the MLB in my opinion. The MLB knows that many pitchers use pine tar and other substances to improve their spin rate which gives them an advantage over their competition that doesn't use it. Even with knowledge of players using substances, the MLB does not enforce this banned substance rule very often. In fact, it is rare to see a pitcher get questioned for pine tar. In this past season, Gerrit Cole was shown on film adjusting his hat and having his fingers literally stick to his hat. This was all over social media the next day, however, nothing happened from it. 



Other Substances Used:

  -Not every player who uses a substance to enhance grip or spin rate uses pine tar. Popular substances across the league are: pelican grip dip, gorilla snot, sunscreen & rosin, saliva and petroleum jelly. All of these are technically illegal by Major League Baseball's rulebook, but pitchers find a way to sneak them into gameplay from time to time. 


                             


My Thoughts on the Use of Pine Tar

    -I am all for pitchers having any advantage possible. However, I am a little bias since I am a pitcher myself. If pine tar were to become legal for use by pitchers around the league, I believe there should be a universal substance approved by the MLB and available for use by all pitchers. It could be the same as the rosin bag seen behind mounds throughout the league. If they allowed this substance to be used, then I also believe they should crack down on any other substance used by pitchers. Either way, I believe pitchers will always find ways to have a slight edge over their competition, so the best thing the MLB could do is legalize one form of it and distribute it evenly across the league. 










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