Yankees manager Aaron Boone noted last night that he would look into the use of pine tar by Mariners starter Yusei Kikuchi during his start last night.
So what did he find?
"We looked at it and have some thoughts about it, but I don't really have anything public to say about it," Boone told reporters before tonight's series finale against Seattle. "...We'll try to handle it behind the scenes, how we think is proper."
It is an official rule that pitchers cannot use any foreign substance to help themselves on the mound, but hitters normally don't mind it. When pitchers have better control of the ball, they limit potentially dangerous pitches toward the batter.
But Boone's comments are interesting. Last night, he nonchalantly said he would look into it, but these words could mean there is something he didn't like. Kikuchi very clearly had a glob of pine tar underneath his bill, and wasn't discrete when reaching to it in between batters.
SNY's Andy Martino also did some digging to see what other pitchers and coaches thought after seeing the clip, and one pitching coach didn't like what he saw.
"It's over the top," said one pitching coach. "Someone needs to make him aware of the obvious disrespect. Seriously, he needs to be more discrete."
Former Red Sox manager John Farrell always commented on it saying "typically, you're not trying to be as blatant."
So, while many pitchers use a substance, subtly doing it is the key. Kikuchi wasn't, and going off what Boone said, the Yankees may be thinking about taking action.