MLB

Rays ace Glasnow blames MLB crackdown on foreign substances for UCL injury

By Sports Desk June 15, 2021

Tampa Bay Rays ace Tyler Glasnow blamed the MLB's crackdown on foreign substances for his arm injury.

MLB will enhance its enforcement of the rules that prohibit applying foreign substances to baseballs, with pitchers subjected to random checks and could face ejections, fines and suspensions of 10 games, starting June 21.

Glasnow was diagnosed with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and a flexor tendon strain after exiting the Rays' 5-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

Placed on the 10-day injured list, Glasnow is facing a lengthy stint on the sidelines and the 27-year-old pitcher vented his frustration on Tuesday.

"I switched my fastball grip and my curveball grip," Glasnow said during an animated conference call with reporters. "I had to put my fastball deeper into my hand and grip it way harder. Instead of holding my curveball at the tip of my fingers, I had to dig it deeper into my hand.

"I'm choking the s*** out of all my pitches."

"In my mind that sounds dumb," Glasnow said. "That sounds like an excuse a player would use to make sure he could use sticky stuff. I threw to the [Washington] Nationals ... I did well. I woke up the next day and I was sore in places I didn't even know I had muscles in."

In 2021, Glasnow has an ERA of 2.66 with 123 strikeouts – second only to Shane Bieber (130) – and a 0.93 WHIP.

"Waking up after that start, I was like, 'This sucks,'" Glasnow recalled. "Something is weird here. That same feeling is persisting all week long. I go into my start [Monday] and that same feeling [is there], it pops or whatever the hell happened to my elbow. I feel it. Something happened.

"Do it in the offseason. Give us a chance to adjust to it. But I just threw 80 innings, then you tell me I can't use anything in the middle of the year. I have to change everything I've been doing the entire season. I'm telling you I truly believe that's why I got hurt."

"That's out of the window," he said of his old grips. "I have to develop something where I can't hold the ball light anymore. I have to dig it deep into my hand. I'm taking a fastball and squeezing it twice as hard.

"Me throwing 100 mph and being [six-foot-seven] is why I got hurt, but that contributed. I'm frustrated that they don't understand how hard it is to pitch, and to tell us to do something completely different in the middle of the season is insane. It's ridiculous."

"Sunscreen and rosin is apparently the same as Spider Tack," Glasnow said. "All right, I guess I'll adapt and learn. And the only thing I learned was that it hurts to throw a ball in the middle of the season from having something to not having something."

"I'm sitting here, my lifelong dream. I want to go out and win a Cy Young," he said. "I want to be an All-Star and now it's s*** on. Now it's over. Now I have to rehab and try to get back in the playoffs. I'm clearly frustrated."

Related items

  • Vogel slams Suns after 'unacceptable' loss to Spurs Vogel slams Suns after 'unacceptable' loss to Spurs

    Frank Vogel hit out at the Phoenix Suns for an "unacceptable" defeat to the San Antonio Spurs.

    San Antonio were shorn of star player Victor Wembenyama on Monday, yet ran out 104-102 winners over the Suns.

    Phoenix have now lost three of their four meetings against the Spurs this season, despite San Antonio having been rooted to the bottom of the Western Conference.

    And Vogel did not hold back in criticising his team.

    "It's just unacceptable to lose that game," Suns coach Vogel said.

    "For our guys, we all said the right things. We all did the right preparation. But we didn't play with the necessary focus in this position throughout, I would say, the first half."

    Bradley Beal added: "It's disappointment.

    "We came in here and laid an egg. We thought it was going to be easy with no Wemby. Just got our a** kicked.

    "They came out aggressive, just like the coach told us they would, and we didn't respond. Well, we did, but we didn't withstand their punches."

    Devin Booker says the Suns knew what to expect of the Spurs, but just did not deliver.

    "I'm not into disrespecting our opponents," Booker said.

    "These guys are NBA guys. There are some talented young players over there. We weren't unprepared. We knew what to expect."

    Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell both finished with 26 points for the Spurs.

    "I was confident," Sochan said.

    "Even at the start, I was asking for the ball, I had my hands up. I felt like a couple of the last games the ball hasn't going in for me from the 3-point line. But no matter what, I believe in myself."

    The Suns sit eighth in the West, but are about to embark on what ESPN class as the toughest end to the season in the NBA, but Vogel dismissed those concerns.

    "We like our chances against anybody. We don't worry about the schedule," he said.

  • Ohtani helps Dodgers rally to win season opener Ohtani helps Dodgers rally to win season opener

    Shohei Ohtani had two hits in his official Los Angeles Dodgers debut, including an RBI single during a four-run eighth inning that helped his new team rally for a 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea in Wednesday's opener of the 2024 MLB season. 

    Mookie Betts also had two hits and an RBI as the Dodgers got a season of sky-high expectations off to a successful start, though they faced a 2-1 deficit entering the eighth before the offence came to life against San Diego's bullpen.

    The Dodgers loaded the bases with none out on a pair of walks and a Teoscar Hernandez single before Enrique Hernandez drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly. Gavin Lux then reached base on a ground ball that went through the web of Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth's glove, with Teoscar Hernandez scoring on the error for a 3-2 lead.

    Betts and Ohtani followed with RBI singles to extend the lead to 5-2 before relievers Joe Kelly and Evan Phillips held the Padres scoreless over the final two innings.

    Los Angeles received a total of four scoreless innings from four relievers after another of its big-ticket offseason acquisitions, Tyler Glasnow, allowed two runs over five innings.

    Glasnow did issue four walks in his Los Angeles debut, including free passes to Manny Machado and Korean native Ha-Seong Kim to start the bottom of the fourth with the game tied at 1-1. Jurickson Profar followed with a bunt single to load the bases before Machado crossed the plate on a double-play grounder that put San Diego ahead.

    The Dodgers had tied the game in the top of the fourth when Teoscar Hernandez reached on an error and later scored on Jason Heyward's sacrifice fly. 

    San Diego recorded the first run of the season in the third when Xander Bogaerts singled in Tyler Wade, who drew a lead-off walk before advancing on Glasnow's wild pitch.

    Bogaerts accounted for two of the Padres' four hits.

    San Diego starter Yu Darvish worked the first 3 2/3 innings and allowed one unearned run on two hits while walking three and striking out three.

    The game drew an announced crowd of 15,952 at the Gocheok Sky Dome for the first regular-season MLB game played in South Korea. The Dodgers and Padres will play again at the venue Thursday, with Los Angeles sending former Japanese league star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound for his anticipated MLB debut. 

  • ‘Fantastic experience’ promised as MLB returns to London this summer ‘Fantastic experience’ promised as MLB returns to London this summer

    Former World Series champion Chase Utley has promised a “fantastic experience” when Major League Baseball returns to London this summer.

    The 2024 MLB season officially gets under way on Wednesday with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in Seoul before the regular season begins on March 28.

    This summer, on the weekend of June 8-9, the latest MLB London series will take place when the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies go head-to-head in England’s capital.

    London Stadium will host two matches between the sides in what will be the third time the sport has been taken to Britain after previous series in 2019 and last year.

    Utley, who helped Philadelphia claim 2008 World Series success, said: “You’ll have the Phillies and Mets, two fantastic teams, two rivals in the same division.

    “They’ve been rivals for around like 70 years and you’ll see some of the best players in the world.

    “You’ll see fireworks, activities on the field in between innings, live music, you’ll have American-standard baseball food, which consists of hotdogs, nachos and burgers!

    “Overall, it’s just a fantastic experience.”

    Utley was in Brent Cross last week at The 108, a state-of-the-art dedicated indoor baseball facility, and put England white-ball captain Jos Buttler through his paces before he learned some of the key principles of cricket.

     

    View this post on Instagram

    A post shared by Jos Buttler (@josbuttler)

     

    The sporting crossover occurred due to cricket heading across the pond this summer when the T20 World Cup is hosted in America and West Indies during the same time of the latest MLB London series.

    Former second baseman Utley retired in 2018 and splits his time between the United States and his new London home as part of his ambassador role for MLB Europe.

    The 45-year-old feels cricket is slowly starting to break through in the USA, adding: “It’s probably as much as baseball penetrates here in the UK, so a bit, yes.

    “Here, obviously football, from what I’ve seen in a short amount of time, is the sport that for sure everyone watches and then cricket is second place to that.

    “In America, you have American Football and then you have basketball or you have baseball that are kind of bounced back and forth.

    “It’s exciting to see that cricket is going to the United States to play because I’ve seen some amateurs playing in the park. You’re starting to see it more and more over the last few years that I was there.”

    The next goal for Utley is to actually watch a cricket match live after brushing up his knowledge with Buttler last Wednesday when the meaning of ‘Bazball’ alongside the difference between Test and white-ball cricket was discussed.

    “I’ve watched a fair share but I still haven’t seen it in person,” Utley said.

    “At some point I need to see it in person. I’ve watched it on TV and it took me a little while, but I imagine it’s the same for watching baseball.

    “It takes you a while to understand the nuances, the terminology and actually what is going on in the moment, but once you can wrap your head around it and make some sense, it’s very entertaining.”

    New York Mets will play Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB World Tour: London Series 2024 on June 8-9 at London Stadium. Tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster.co.uk/MLB

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.