Umpires make odd move with Yankees pitcher after suspicious substance check

New York Yankees pitcher Domingo German found himself in a bizarre situation on Saturday as umpires seemed convinced that he had some sort of problematic substance on his hand, but let him keep pitching anyway.

German was stopped for a routine substance check at the end of the third inning, having retired the first nine Minnesota Twins in order. The check lasted longer than usual, and it seemed that umpires had some suspicions about what was on German’s hands.

Crew chief James Hoye again stopped German heading to the mound for the fourth, and another extended check led to manager Aaron Boone coming out. TV cameras caught Hoye apparently telling German that he had to wash his hands.

In spite of this, German was not ejected. That did not sit well with Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, who was tossed while arguing why German was allowed to continue pitching if umpires were suspicious about what might have been on the pitcher’s hands.

Rocco Baldelli got tossed after the umps allowed Domingo German to remain in the game following a lengthy substance check pic.twitter.com/6cWSg3iJPo

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 15, 2023

Boone said after the game that umpires felt German had too much rosin on his hands, prompting them to ask him to wash some off. Baldelli did not dispute that the substance was rosin, but felt that German should have been ejected for failing to heed the umpires’ initial request to wash it off.

Aaron Boone said that Domingo German had too much rosin on his hands, which is why the umpires told him to wash his hands. “It was enough to raise a flag for him.”

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 15, 2023

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli did not claim that German was using an illegal substance. His beef was that German was told after the third to remove excess rosin, did not when he returned for the 4th and, thus, should have been ejected.

— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) April 15, 2023

This does seem like a strange way for umpires to handle this. Rosin is a legal substance, though players are supposed to keep it off their glove. Perhaps that was the issue, but if so, German would not have needed to wash his hands. It’s hard to blame Baldelli for getting ejected given how oddly handled the whole affair was.

German wound up taking a perfect game into the 6th, and ultimately struck out 11 in 6.1 innings while allowing three hits.

Ironically, it was Boone who was upset at what seemed like selective rules enforcement just a few days ago.