An inspection by the umpiring crew and a wry smile from the best pitcher in baseball during Monday’s Braves–Mets game confirmed MLB hitters’ worst nightmare: Jacob deGrom isn’t using anything illegal—he’s just that good.
Monday was the first day that umpires were instructed to enforce baseball’s rule against the use of foreign substances by pitchers. Starters will be inspected for “sticky stuff” more than once per game and relievers will be checked either at the end of an inning or when they’re removed from the game.
The Braves and Mets played MLB’s first game of the day, so, after the first inning, when deGrom walked off the field after retiring the side (that’s 34 straight first-inning outs for him), he became the first pitcher to be checked for illegal gunk this year.