New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz may have been caught with the most obvious violation of MLB’s foreign substance rule we’ve seen to date.
On Sunday, the Mets sent Diaz to the mound in the bottom of the ninth to close out their 5-2 game against the Chicago Cubs. However, before he could even throw a pitch, Diaz was ejected for failing the sticky stuff test every pitcher goes through nowadays. It’s been some time since we’ve seen a major sticky stuff ejection and at first glance, it’s pretty obvious why Diaz got called out for it.
As Diaz took the mound, the officials immediately were on his case about a substance on his hands. After a few moments of inspection and conversation, Diaz was ejected, but not before fans got a good look at the substance in question on his right hand.
Mets closer Edwin Díaz is ejected before he throws a pitch on Sunday Night Baseball after a foreign substance check in the bottom of the 9th. ⚾️📺🎙️ pic.twitter.com/wOY13aU4re
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 24, 2024
Edwin Diaz was ejected for a foreign substance as soon as he entered the game for the save pic.twitter.com/RmlGtgqVT4
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 24, 2024
Yeah … that feels as obvious as it gets. Diaz automatically gets a 10-game suspension for failing the sticky stuff check but afterwards was adamant his usual routine didn’t change.
Edwin Díaz on if his hand was "stickier than usual" tonight:
"I think it's the same. They always check me, they let me pitch… I will keep using the same thing because they didn't find anything on my glove, my hat, my belt." pic.twitter.com/QXvO1sxAeD
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 24, 2024
Of course, there is always the possibility the sticky stuff on Diaz’s hand is a combination of rosin and sweat, as we’ve seen before when Max Scherzer argued against his ejection in 2023. Still, MLB fans saw a substance on Diaz’s hand and absolutely ran with the jokes on social media.
Here’s how MLB fans reacted to Edwin Diaz’s obvious sticky stuff ejection
Bold move for Edwin Díaz to think he's getting away with this. pic.twitter.com/sUfSvM7un6
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) June 24, 2024
Didn’t even try to be subtle https://t.co/y9TYkC46Fa
— Giannis Auntiegotapoodle (@TooMuchMortons_) June 24, 2024
He wasn’t even trying to hide it lmao https://t.co/gorIKjJxZa
— j (@Jferrie23) June 24, 2024
Edwin Diaz thought no one would notice 😬 pic.twitter.com/gkB0WEbeSR
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) June 24, 2024
How did Edwin Diaz think we was going to get away with this? pic.twitter.com/GT6irgbgwj
— Kody Duncan (@KodyDuncanPGH) June 24, 2024
Edwin Díaz was ejected before even throwing a pitch and uhh…it’s kinda easy to see why. pic.twitter.com/9Zsuh41B98
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) June 24, 2024
