Yankees Pitcher Gives Eye-catching, Evasive Response When Asked If He's Using SpiderTack

In Shrek the Third, there's a scene where Pinocchio uses an impressive array of non-answers to avoid telling an incriminating lie. Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole could give that scene a run for its money.

Baseball is in the midst of a league-wide spitball crisis, meaning its widely believed that many of MLB's pitchers are illegally applying substances to baseballs prior to pitching them in order to make them harder to hit. The substance in the spotlight right now is called SpiderTack, a glue-like tar developed by weightlifter Mike Caruso for improved grip on Atlas stones. For a pitcher, the substance could increase a pitch's spin rate, making it harder to hit. Gerrit Cole has been at the center of the controversy; after MLB began cracking down on the substance, Cole's spin rate declined dramatically and his pitching became much less effective.

Yesterday, Cole was asked point-blank by Ken Davidoff of The New York Post if he'd ever used SpiderTack, and Cole gave an incredibly incriminating non-answer.

here's gerrit cole's response when asked point blank if he has ever used spider tack, one of the sticky substances baseball is looking to crack down on pic.twitter.com/rKFOksIDoW

— Matthew Roberson (@mroberson22) June 8, 2021

“I don’t…I don’t know, I don’t know if, I don’t quite know how to answer that, to be honest. I mean, there are customs and practices that have been passed down from older players to younger players, from the last generation of players to this generation of players. And, you know, I think there are some things that are certainly out of bounds in that regard. And I’ve stood pretty firm in terms of that, in terms of the communication between our peers and what not. And again, like I’ve mentioned earlier, this is important to a lot of people that love the game, including the players in this room, including fans, including teams. If MLB wants to, you know, legislate some more stuff, that’s a conversation that we can have. Because, ultimately, we should all be pulling in the same direction on this.”

The evasive answer was harshly criticized by fans of the game, who felt it amounted to an admission of cheating.

Gerrit Cole confirmed dumber than he looks. Wow. What an absolute abomination of an answer to that question. Now accepting apologies from all Yankee fans who attacked my credibility when I said he was using sticky stuff. pic.twitter.com/2zNeov0jx2

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) June 8, 2021

OH MY GOD Gerrit Cole answering that spider tack question was BAD

— KFC (@KFCBarstool) June 9, 2021

I guess you could say Gerrit Cole is in a sticky situation

— Ted Berg (@OGTedBerg) June 9, 2021

Others were quick to meme on Cole's answer.

"Have you ever used illegal substances on a baseball?"

Gerrit Cole: pic.twitter.com/Kg3LZK6if5

— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) June 8, 2021

Gerrit Cole when asked if he’s ever used illegal substances pic.twitter.com/gFvdHcrpEd

— Zac (Wear A Mask) (@WiscoSportsZac) June 8, 2021

Gerrit Cole when asked about using Spider Tack was like: pic.twitter.com/xiq0VOEIkF

— Mr. Viramontes (@MayorOfBoomtown) June 9, 2021

While Cole, along with Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer, are at the center of the sticky-stuff scandal, there have been some who defended Cole's answer. If the problem is as widespread as some people suspect, Cole's answer may well indicate that his (alleged) use of SpiderTack is a part of baseball turning a blind eye to what's become a common practice in the league.

1) It makes sense to police the crazier tacky substances to maybe reduce spin on some of the crazier breaking balls & perhaps reduce strikeout rate.
2) It doesn’t make sense to vilify players that never saw this rule enforced broadly & never told that some substances were “worse”

— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) June 8, 2021