Team not happy about accusatory tweets from the Indians’ Trevor Bauer.
Hinch dismissive of notion his pitchers are doctoring ball
Trevor Bauer is tweeting, and the Astros are unhappy.
A series of veiled tweets from the outspoken Indians pitcher on Tuesday morning seemed to accuse the Astros and their starting pitchers of doctoring baseballs to improve their spin rates.
Bauer’s original tweet was in response to a fan’s mentioning the increased spin of three specific starters — Charlie Morton, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, Bauer’s college teammate at UCLA.
“They probably using a substance or like chewing gum like morton did in the posteason,” a fan tweeted to Kyle Boddy, a pitching consultant who founded Driveline Baseball, the sabermetric-based system Bauer worked with in 2014.
Bauer replied first with a string of chin-scratching emojis, then with a facetious allusion to possible malfeasance.
“If only there was just a really quick way to increase spin rate,” Bauer wrote, “Like what if you could trade for a player knowing that you could bump his spin rate a couple hundred rpm overnight … Imagine the steals you could get on the trade market! If only that existed.”
‘Ridiculous,’ says skipper
Backlash from the Astros was swift. Manager A.J. Hinch called the entire premise “ridiculous” on an MLB Network radio interview conducted shortly after the tweets were sent.
“If only there was this thing where people who had been around baseball a long time taught people who hadn’t been around as long,” Collin McHugh responded. “Imagine the possiblity (sp) for improvement yr over yr! We could call it coaching!”
Alex Bregman, while calling Trevor Bauer “Tyler,” told the Indians pitcher to “relax” and that “World Series balls spin a little.”
“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you my man,” Lance McCullers Jr. replied to Bauer. “You have great stuff and have worked hard for it, like the rest of us, no need for this.”
Bregman, with a smile, told reporters who approached his locker Tuesday afternoon: “If it’s about Bauer, I’m (leaving) to hit.” McCullers also did not comment further prior to Tuesday’s game against the Yankees.
“I have nothing to say about earlier,” McCullers said. “What I said in my tweet is what I said.”
Statcast data shows that Cole and Verlander, through the first month of 2018, have produced their highest career average spin rate on their four-seam fastball, curveball and slider.
The highest spin rate of Morton’s career on his curveball was in 2015. His 2018 and 2017 spin rates — both with the Astros — are third and fourth highest of his career.
Cole’s average curveball spin rate is 2,779 (revolutions per minute) through his first six starts this season. The same pitch had a 2,684 rate in 2017 and 2,488 in 2016.
Verlander’s second-highest spin rate on his curveball and slider came last season, part of which he spent with the Astros.
“I think you have to look at yourself first before you go at others. But I just find it really funny,” starter Dallas Keuchel said. “I think if there is something to talk about, I think everybody’s trying to gain an edge on everybody. Whether or not it’s using pine tar (on pitches) or cameras or whatever this day and age brings about, all kinds of stuff goes on — there’s sign stealing. I think a lot of teams are trying to gain advantages on other teams. I think if pine tar is one of them, it has to be widespread.”
Pitchers using pine tar or other substances is not new, but egregious violations or instances have been reported in the past. Former Red Sox manager John Farrell asked umpires to check Michael Pineda — who had a noticeable glob of pine tar on his neck in a game in 2014. Pineda was ejected.
“I don’t get into those Twitter wars anymore,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Tuesday. “I don’t read that much into it. Guys use stuff to try and help with grip or whatever, but I don’t think anything is fishy.”
The Astros’ starting rotation entered Tuesday’s game with baseball’s best ERA and with nine double-digit strikeout games. Only two other clubs in major league history had nine double-digit strikeout performances in their first 30 games.
“This organization has been really good at taking talented guys and helping them go to another level,” Boone said. “In Verlander’s case, a guy that was on a Hall of Fame track and pitching OK, and then he got here and is reinvigorated and is pitching really well. So I don’t read much into it other than they’re really good at game-planning over here. They’re really good, I think, at addressing deficiency or addressing things that guys are doing well.”
Tuesday brought addressing a different problem.
“I roll my eyes at it,” Hinch said. “But I do think people need to sweep their front porch and deal with their own situations rather than throw allegations around that are unfounded. I don’t know if it’s a personal vendetta or if he has a problem with things. I know sometimes Twitter considers itself the police of the world, but in this situation, it’s time to get to baseball.”
7 meetings this month
Soon, both teams will. The Indians come to Minute Maid Park for a three-game series on May 18-20, and the Astros visit Cleveland for four games May 24-27.
“We’ll have to deal with it when (Bauer) comes because he’s decided to make himself front and center on dealing with baseball curiosities,” Hinch said. “Our guys are pretty good. They don’t need to be thrown under the bus like that.”