Diamondbacks pitcher Caleb Smith suspended 10 games for foreign substance violation
Diamondbacks left-hander Caleb Smith has been suspended 10 games and fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball for violating the league’s foreign substance policy.
Smith has appealed the suspension. The discipline will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.
Umpires inspected and confiscated Smith’s glove after the top of the eighth inning of the Diamondbacks-Phillies game on Aug. 18. Crew chief Tom Hallion told a pool reporter the umpires found two dark, sticky spots on the inside heel of the glove.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, who allowed by the umpires to inspect the glove before it was confiscated, acknowledged the sticky spots and said Smith “maintained that those little areas, those little hot spots, were a result of the rosin bag.”
Smith told reporters after the game that they were nothing more than dirt.
League rules explicitly prohibit the presence of rosin on gloves. Rule 6.02(d) reads, “… neither shall the pitcher nor any other player be permitted to apply rosin from the bag to his glove.”
It is unclear if the league has performed testing on Smith’s glove to determine the exact nature of the spots, but it seems clear the commissioner’s office had no doubt it stemmed from an illegal substance.
Smith was adamant that he did not intentionally put a sticky substance on his glove.
“I’m not stupid,” Smith said last week. “I know the main two things that they check are your glove and your hat. If I were using something -- and I wasn’t -- I wouldn’t put it in my glove or my hat. That’s just ignorant.”
Smith declined comment on Tuesday, saying through a team spokesman that he would speak once the appeal process is complete.