Pete Alonso disagrees with Major League Baseball\'s crackdown on pitcher-friendly foreign substances, and says that the larger issue facing the sport is the league\'s manipulation of baseballs depending on free-agent class -- a theory he presented as \"fact.\"
\"The biggest concern is MLB manipulates the baseball year in and year out depending on free-agency class, or guys being in an advanced part of their arbitration,\" Alonso said.
Asked in a follow-up question if the idea of MLB manipulating baseballs based on free-agent class is something players \"talk about and believe in,\" Alonso replied, \"Oh no, that\'s a fact.\"
He continued: \"In 2019, there was a huge class of free-agent pitchers and then that\'s quote-unquote \'the juiced balls,\' and then 2020 was a strange year with the COVID season. But now that we\'re back to playing in a regular season with a ton of shortstops or position players that are going to be paid a lot of money like high-caliber players -- I mean, yeah, that\'s not a coincidence. It\'s definitely something that they do.\"
Via Joon Lee/ESPN
