The science behind Major League Baseball's latest sticky situation

Here's the science behind Major League Baseball's latest sticky situation.

This is an Inside Science story. On June 15, Major League Baseball announced its plan to more aggressively enforce often-ignored rules prohibiting the use of foreign substances by pitchers. The league is now encouraging umpires to check pitchers frequently during games, especially for the presence of anything sticky on the players' hands or uniforms that might be used to help grip the ball. The league will eject and suspend players who violate those rules. Across Major League Baseball this season, hitting performance has been plummeting, and the new emphasis on enforcing the rules, which went into effect June 21, likely will reduce the rate at which pitchers are able to spin the ball. This in turn should make the ball less likely to dart and dive as violently, making it easier to hit. The spin rate of pitches has indeed dropped considerably since the first announcements about enforcing the rules. But changing this one aspect of the game may have far reaching consequences that could include a possible increase in injury risk.