Tyler Glasnow admitted to using sunscreen and rosin to help with his grip and stopped using it after MLB began to crack down on foreign substances.
Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow went on a brutally honest rant Tuesday concerning MLB's crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances for better grip.
Earlier, an MRI revealed that Glasnow suffered a partial tear in his UCL along with a flexor strain and was placed on the 10-day injured list. A timetable for his return has yet to be announced, but he said no surgery would be required. But he wasn't looking at the glass half full.
Glasnow, 27, was nothing short of honest when it came to his use of foreign substances—specifically sunscreen and rosin—by his own admission and said "I'm choking the s--- out of my pitches" now that he's stopped using it and changed his grip.
"I just threw 80 something innings and you (MLB) just told me I can't use anything. I have to change everything," he told reporters. "I truly believe 100% that's why I got hurt. I'm frustrated MLB doesn't understand. You can't just tell us to use nothing. It's crazy."
The MLB is cracking down on the use of foreign substances and announced the new guidelines that a pitcher who "possesses or applies foreign substances" will face a 10-day suspension.
Glasnow said he stopped using sunscreen a couple of starts ago and heard chatter that it could lead to injuries but didn't believe it. Then after pitching against the Nationals he said he was "sore in places I didn't even know I had muscles in."
"We had a union meeting and 36 reps are on there. We said, 'Does anyone have a problem with sunscreen and rosin?' Not a single person said no," he said. "Get rid of spider tack, great. Find something better than mud. When you don't store them right they get chalky and bad."
Glasnow has started in all 14 of his appearances for the Rays and has a 2.66 ERA and has struck out 123 batters. Now facing missing significant time, he's frustrated.
"I don't want this to happen to anyone else," Glasnow said. "My lifelong dream is I want to win a CY young and be an All-Star and now it's just s--- on. Now it's over. Now I have to try to rehab to come back in the playoffs. I'm clearly frustrated. You can't just tell us to use nothing. It's crazy."
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