Sarris: Across MLB, spin rates are back up near their peak. Is the sticky stuff here to stay? [$]

But it looks like pitchers have found something clear and wipeable that gives them more of a boost than sunscreen and rosin, because spin rate is back up in baseball. Almost back to where it was before enforcement started.

The highest and lowest points in league-average spin rate in the spin-rate tracking era are both on this graph, so it’s not a trick of the y-axis: spin took a huge drop after enforcement, and then it started to creep back to past levels almost immediately. Adjusting for velocity, because velocity and spin are interrelated, creates the same graph. This is a real effect.

“It’s really obvious,” said a hitting coach who then rattled off examples of pitchers who had come to town recently and used some sort of substance.

But pitchers aren’t back to the extreme days of Spider Tack. You have to go through 51 pitcher seasons before you get to this year’s highest four-seam spin rate, and then another 123 pitcher seasons before you get to this year’s second-highest spin rate. The very top spin rates have been eliminated, but pitchers seem to be finding something that’s almost as good.

A league source confirmed this is something they are monitoring closely, but there is an obvious question they have to debate as they consider the way forward. What more can they do? Consider this breakdown of perhaps the most detailed frisking of a pitcher in modern memory: James Karinchak has been accused of using something in his hair to gain spin, and his spin rates are up (almost back to pre-enforcement levels). The umpire literally touches his hair upon request of the opposing manager.