Mets reliever Drew Smith tossed for sticky substance violation, faces 10-game ban
Drew Smith #40 of the New York Mets argues with crew chief Bill Miller after he was ejected from a game against the New York Yankees before the start of the seventh inning at Citi Field on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Once again, the Mets are in a sticky situation.
Reliever Drew Smith was ejected from a 7-6 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday following a foreign-substance check upon his entrance in the top of the seventh inning. He is the third pitcher — and second Mets pitcher — to get thrown out of a game for breaking MLB’s substance rules this season.
As the Mets know from Max Scherzer’s experience in April, such an ejection comes with an automatic 10-game suspension from the league. Teams are not allowed to replace the punished player on the roster, meaning the Mets will be limited to 25 players on their 26-man roster — further raising the degree of difficulty for a pitching staff that has struggled of late.
Smith said he was using rosin and sweat, the usual explanation for pitchers in his situation, and he was surprised by the punishment because “I haven’t done anything different all year.”
“I don’t think they were sticky,” he said. “Obviously, they do. I’m sure they’re going to come out with a statement saying something similar to Max’s, ‘stickiest hands ever’ or whatnot. But my hands weren’t sticky. I had everybody check them as I was coming off the field.”
First-base umpire Bill Miller, who administered the check and ejected Smith, said Smith’s hands were the stickiest he has felt all year.
“I had all three of my members touch the hands and they felt the same way,” Miller told a pool reporter. “I can't tell [if it was a foreign substance]. I don't know what's on his hand. All I know it was sticky, sticky to the touch. It stuck to my hands when I touched it. Not only his pitching hand, but his glove hand, as well.
“If something’s sticky, it’s illegal. They cannot manipulate the rosin. They can't use foreign substance. I don't know what was on his hand. But his hand was sticky to the touch, where my hand stuck to his hand.”
Since MLB’s crackdown on sticky substances in June 2021, five pitchers have been ejected, including the pair of Mets this year. The only other in the past two years also was on site at Citi Field for this one: Yankees starter Domingo German.
The Mets also had two Triple-A pitchers, Eric Orze and Dylan Bundy, ejected for foreign substances in Syracuse games last month.
Are umpires targeting the Mets?
“I have no comment on that,” Smith said. “They thought my hands were too sticky. That’s it.”
After jogging in from the bullpen and arriving at the infield at the start of the seventh inning, Smith encountered Miller, who initiated the substance check — a routine occurrence. But Miller patted Smith’s right hand repeatedly, then checked his left/glove hand, the sequence taking longer than normal. Miller called over the other umpires, they conferred, and Miller ejected Smith.
“We’re all angry about this one,” Scherzer said. “You feel his hand, you don’t feel anything. I think he even said, going into the check, this is the lightest he’s ever felt. He’s been cleared by every other umpire, and now all of a sudden he’s getting thrown out . . . I know we’re all very frustrated. Because it doesn’t appear that Drew violated any rule.”
Smith, 29, began the season as part of the Mets’ four-man high-leverage group. But he had struggled recently, allowing at least one run in six of his previous 10 appearances entering play Tuesday. That caused his ERA to shoot up from 1.88 to 4.18.
He said he planned to talk to the players’ union about a potential appeal by Wednesday and, like Scherzer, was frustrated by the arbitrary process put in place by MLB.
“It can change from one crew to the other. I think that’s the main issue,” he said. “It just [stinks] for the team, not having a guy for 10 days and being a man down for the roster spot.”
Manager Buck Showalter said: “What kind of challenge? I think that’s kind of self-explanatory.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
