Tyler Glasnow blames his injury on MLB’s sticky substance ban

Tyler Glasnow is the best pitcher on the Rays, the team with the best record in Major League Baseball. The 27-year-old righty was continuing his dominant start to the season on Monday night against the White Sox when he was pulled from the game after just four innings and 53 pitches.

On Tuesday, Glasnow was diagnosed with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament and a flexor tendon strain. Glasnow is going to rehab the injury in an attempt to avoid Tommy John surgery, but seeing a potential Cy Young candidate go down on the reigning AL champs is a massive bummer.

Glasnow shared a few thoughts on how he might have gotten injured with reports on Tuesday. Specifically, he’s blaming MLB’s new edict to start enforcing a ban on pitchers using ‘sticky stuff’ to grip or put added spin on balls. Glasnow’s injury was announced on the same day MLB sent a memo to teams saying it was start enforcing existing rules later this month.

Glasnow said he stopped using sunscreen to grip balls a few starts ago, and began to experience elbow pain. It appears his biggest beef with MLB is that its enforcing these rules mid-season instead of informing pitchers of the new points of emphasis over a full offseason.

The Rays are 43-24 at the time of Glasnow’s injury. The pitcher is 5-2 on the season with a 2.66 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. He is averaging 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings compared to 2.8 walks per nine.

Glasnow was off to another solid start against Chicago on Monday before experiencing elbow pain:

Will more pitchers experience injuries without the aid of grip enhancements as they change their routine mid-season? Losing one of the front-runners from AL Cy Young off the best team in the league is already troubling enough.