
Hector Santiago joined the Seattle Mariners on May 27th, and he just made history in a Mariners uniform yesterday. The 33-year-old started yesterday’s game (Saturday’s suspended game) and was ejected in the middle of the fifth inning after umpires checked his glove.
Hector Santiago could now face a 10-game suspension and the Seattle Mariners would not be able to replace him on the roster during the suspension.
Hector Santiago of the Seattle Mariners is the first to be ejected for violating the new foreign substance policy
It’s probably not the way Hector Santiago wanted to end up in the MLB record books, but he’s there now as the first to be ejected for violating the MLB’s foreign substance policy. Umpires have the power to eject players but the suspension is not made official until the league rules it as a violation.
Mariners' Hector Santiago is the first player to be ejected for violating MLB’s new foreign-substance policy.
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 27, 2021
(via @NBCSWhiteSox) pic.twitter.com/Yi6Du5z6cC
Santiago’s glove was confiscated and put into a bag for the league officials in New York to analyze. From what we have heard from the veteran pitcher and Seattle Mariners manager, they are confident that there will be no suspension.
The Mariners are confident that Héctor Santiago will not be suspended for 10 games as part of new protocols for grip-enhancing agents after he was ejected today.
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) June 27, 2021
Santiago and Scott Servais said that the legal rosin he was using created a sticky moisture when rubbed with sweat.
Hector spoke to the media and said he only used rosin, which is not illegal. Apparently, the mix of sweat and rosin created a sticky substance but technically, that is not illegal. From the umpire’s perspective, crew chief Tom Hallion said Santiago had a “foreign substance that was sticky on the inside palm of his glove.”
Hector Santiago says he was using nothing illegal and it was just a mixture of sweat and rosin that turned sticky. pic.twitter.com/CtU1tamf8G
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) June 27, 2021
Some people have been quick to judge Hector Santiago for cheating but we should remain patient. Nothing is final until Major League Baseball checks the substance in his glove.
Hector Santiago of #Mariners becomes the first pitcher ejected, and soon to be suspended, since MLB’s crackdown for using illegal substance https://t.co/UPv6SXsPwt
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 27, 2021
Hector Santiago has also been around the game for a long time so he is one of the last people I would expect to break the new substance rules. I also think his reaction to the situation and his statements to the media were very honest, which makes me think he was just using rosin and nothing more.