Mets' Buck Showalter calls for change amid batters being hit by wild pitches, thinks sticky crackdown to blame

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Buck Showalter is tired of seeing his players get hit by pitches while batting. 

Nearly a dozen New York Mets players have been hit by pitches during the first week of the season, and Mets manager Showalter expressed his frustration Friday on WFAN’s "Carton & Roberts."

METS’ FRANCISCO LINDOR HIT IN THE FACE BY WILD PITCH, NATIONALS’ STEVE CISHEK EJECTED

"Let’s be frank about it," Showalter said. "Gripping a baseball, the pitchers took it too far with the Spider Tack and made it a pitching advantage with spin rate and everything, and now I’m not so sure we haven’t gone too far the other way. Trying to grip a baseball that’s been rubbed with mud in April and early May and October is real slick. The rosin just doesn’t do as much as you think. Somehow I think we’ve gone too far."

Francisco Lindor (12) of the New York Mets is hit by a pitch thrown by Steve Cishek of the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park April 8, 2022, in Washington, D.C.   (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

Showalter instead advocated for some sort of "universal" substance to help pitchers improve their grip. 

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"I’ve always pushed for a universal pitching rag behind the mound where guys can tap their fingers, and you won’t have guys getting hit nearly as much. I think a lot of hit-by-pitches are guys can’t grip the baseball.

"Let’s say everybody hit without batting gloves, pine tar and wraps around your bat. Because a pitcher is supposed to have his tool without gripping it, yet a batter can do whatever he wants to grip a bat. Just doesn’t make a lot of sense."

Manager Buck Showalter of the New York Mets watches a game against