Stay Tuned For More Pitchers Being Frisked

by • Featured

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

CHICAGO — College baseball is on the verge of having routine inspections of pitchers for foreign substances, according to National Coordinator of Umpires George Drouches.

After the 2022 NCAA Rules Video was played in front of NCAA baseball coaches at the recent ABCA Convention in Chicago, which re-emphasized the foreign substance rule in NCAA baseball, Drouches was asked by Collegiate Baseball if pitchers will be routinely inspected for using foreign substances on baseballs during the 2022 season as they do in Major League Baseball.

“I believe that is coming, and we will see more of that (inspections of pitchers for foreign substances),” said Drouches.

“We kind of take our lessons from Major League Baseball. When coaches are insinuating that this guy is using an illegal foreign substance on balls, there will be more inspections. It is coming, no doubt about it. I will leave it at that.

“We do have a rule in place where we can check the pitcher. Coaches also ask that we check pitchers if they suspect a problem.”

With the 2021-22 NCAA baseball rules cycle, more teeth was put into the foreign substance rule.

To read more of this article, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE. The rest of the article explains what the NCAA foreign substance rule is and what specific rules were put in place for Major League Baseball during the 2021 season.