Yankees' Domingo Germán suspended 10 games after ejection for violating foreign substance policy
New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán was fined and hit with a 10-game suspension Wednesday for violating the league’s foreign substances rules.
Germán will not appeal his suspension, and it will start immediately. He will be eligible to return May 28 against the San Diego Padres.
The punishment came after Germán was ejected in the fourth inning of the team's 6-3 win Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Germán, crew chief James Hoye said, had the “stickiest hand I’ve ever felt.”
“My fingers had a hard time coming off his palm,” Hoye said, via The Associated Press.
Yankees Starting Pitcher Domingo German get ejected from the game for having a foreign substance on his hands 😳 pic.twitter.com/5uHpIGUfDN
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 17, 2023
Tuesday’s ejection marked at least the second time this season that officials have questioned Germán for violating the foreign substance rule. Hoye’s crew looked at him during a start he made last month against the Minnesota Twins, but he was allowed to stay in the game.
Germán’s ejection was the second of its kind in Major League Baseball this season. New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer was suspended April 20.
Germán, who retired the first nine batters in Tuesday’s win before he was ejected, insisted it was just rosin on his hand.
“It was definitely just the rosin bag,” he said through an interpreter, via The Associated Press. “It was sweat and the rosin bag. I don’t need any extra help to grab the baseball.”
Germán, 30, holds a 2-3 record in nine starts so far this season, his sixth with the Yankees. He holds a 3.75 ERA in 48 innings pitched. The Yankees, who fell to the Blue Jays 3-0 on Wednesday in the third game of a four-game series, hold a 25-20 overall record. They are expected to start Luis Severino in Germán’s place on Sunday.
“He went over the line that umpires deemed, and now we’ve got to live with the consequences of that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday, via The Associated Press. “No one player needs to carry this load. We’ll share it all, and we’ll do it together.”
