Venezuela Pitcher Ejected for Foreign Substance in Olympic Qualifier as MLB Calls for Crackdown

Tuesday's WBSC Baseball Americas Olympic Qualifier featured an ejection of Venezuela pitcher Adrian Almeida for a foreign substance as MLB has called for increased enforcement of the foreign substance rule. Article: https://www.closecallsports.com/2021/06/wbsc-baseball-americas-foreign.html Almeida was ejected during Venezuela's game against Colombia after umpires Fabrizio Fabrizi, Jeff Macias, Ruben Ramos, and Christian Madero met and inspected Almeida's glove, finding that it contained pine tar, an illegal substance pursuant to Official Baseball Rule 6.02(c)(7). Under OBR 6.02(c), the penalty for possessing a foreign substance is immediate ejection of the pitcher and, depending on the league, an automatic suspension. Three Minor League Baseball pitchers were ejected over the weekend for foreign substance issues, and MiLB has already issued suspensions as a result. At the Major League level, you might remember Crew Chief Joe West's ejection of Cardinals Manager Mike Shildt on May 26 in Ejection 055 after umpire Dan Bellino noticed that St Louis pitcher Giovanny Gallegos' hat may have had a foreign substance on it. Rather than eject the pitcher, West elected to simply order Gallegos to swap out his hat, which he did...but not before Shildt was ejected for arguing the instruction.