Fan detective boldly accuses Gerrit Cole of using sticky substances again

Is New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole back to using spider tack? One fan detective thinks he spotted something sketchy on his pants.

To clarify — this is most likely a giant nothing burger. Cole and most professional baseball players can get dirty from time to time. If anything, Cole has some dirt or mud on his pants, if not rosin.

But, let’s play the hypothetical game that comes with these fan investigations. Yankee fans are not innocent in all this, as just a few years ago they (rightly) helped identify the Astros sign-stealing scandal.

Could Cole now be on the other end of his own scandal?

On the surface, this is a bit of a stretch, and despite the tweet going viral it does not mean Cole should be implicated right away.

Yankees: Did Gerrit Cole use spider tack again?

If — and it’s a huge if — MLB did find evidence of Cole using a sticky substance again, he’d likely be suspended. But the odds of that transpiring at all is slim considering the routine checks umpires put starting pitchers through in between innings.

This is doubly true for a player the caliber of Cole. The ace of the New York Yankees is not going to get away with such an obvious disregard of the rules in the moment.

So, in short, no. It’s unlikely Cole felt the need to go back to his sticky substance ways for an April start against the Cleveland Guardians.