Edwin Diaz vows to keep doing what got him suspended for sticky stuff

New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz was ejected on Sunday for having a foreign substance on his hands but you won't catch him changing his approach when he comes back from his 10-game suspension.

The sticky stuff umpires detected on the pitcher's hand was a combination of rosin, sweat and dirt, Diaz explained to reporters after the Mets' 5-2 win. He says he uses the same coating before every appearance, mixing sweat with rosin and then touching his hand to the dirt for grip.

This time around, the umps felt that his hands were too sticky. That determination is going to cost him 10 games because of the automatic suspension that comes with an ejection for sticky stuff.

Diaz has no plans to change what he does before going out to pitch, so if that was indeed what was causing the issue the Mets will have to hope that future officiating crews take a more liberal stance on the stickiness of a pitcher's hands.

Umpires call BS on Edwin Diaz claim of sweat, dirt and rosin

Crew chief Vic Carapazza wasn't buying Diaz's explanation.

“It definitely wasn’t rosin and sweat," Carapazza told a pool reporter, noting that Diaz's hands were discolored. "We’ve checked 1000s of these. I know what that feeling is. This was very sticky."

It's par for the course for officials who eject a pitcher to claim their hands were uniquely sticky. And maybe Diaz's were.

Maybe it was a foreign substance that Diaz did a very poor job of trying to conceal. Maybe it was a particularly sticky batch of sweat, rosin and dirt. Maybe the humidity in Chicago played a role.

Only one thing is clear: MLB needs a better system to police sticky stuff and foreign substances. As Rob Friedman eloquently stated on Twitter, MLB can measure just about every part of baseball game, but not stickiness?

It would save everyone a lot of trouble if the league did a better job of clarifying how sticky is too sticky. Until that happens, Diaz is going to roll the dice.