Strahm throws a pitch. / Dave Nelson-Imagn Images
As the torpedo bat craze spreads around pro baseball, one big league player believes pitchers should benefit from a bit more freedom in the eyes of MLB.
Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Matt Strahm in a post on his X account on Monday made it clear that he doesn’t have a problem with hitters using torpedo bats. But Strahm, pointing out the grip aids hitters are allowed to use in the on-deck circle, suggested that pitchers should have the same privilege, as well as more freedom from umpire checks for sticky substances.
“Let them use whatever bat they want,” Strahm wrote. “Let’s just allow pitchers to use whatever hitters have in the on deck circle. And not check us like we are criminals every time we walk on or off the field. I’m just a pitcher but I’m assuming better grip helps ya swing harder.”
In response to startlingly-low batting averages and increased pitcher spin rates as a result of grip aids, MLB in 2021 promised to crack down on pitchers’ use of foreign substances. Since that point, any pitcher caught using a foreign substance faces a 10-game suspension. Chief among the ways MLB enforced—and still enforces—this crackdown was with sticky substance checks made by umpires, who inspect pitchers’ fingers, hands, belt buckles and pants. Before the 2023 season, the league announced in a memo to all 30 teams that it wanted the “frequency and scope” of these checks to increase.
Strahm, as he alluded to, would like these checks to decrease. The Phillies hurler did clarify one thing while replying to a fan, though. He’s not advocating for pitchers to be allowed to use sticky substances again to better grip the ball. Just that pitchers be afforded the same grip aid as batters.
According to MLB rules, batters can use pine tar or other grip-improving substances on bat handles for not more than 18 inches from the handle’s end.
It’s certainly an interesting take in light of the heightened attention and use of torpedo bats, which feature the barrel, or fatter part of the bat, closer to the handle and a tapered end. The bats have not been a secret in baseball but they gained attention when several New York Yankees used them during a record-tying home run frenzy in the club’s season-opening weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
