© Pool Photo | 2021 Mar 1
Major League Baseball is cracking down on pitchers doctoring the balls, and a Giants prospect is among one of the players being made an example of at the lower levels.
Pitching prospect Kai-Wei Teng has been suspended for 10 games, Minor League Baseball announced on Wednesday. This comes after he was ejected in the third inning of the Eugene Emeralds’ game on Saturday when a foreign substance was discovered on his glove.
He is one of three minor league pitchers who were ejected this weekend, all of whom have been suspended. MLB has made a conscious effort to eliminate pitchers using substances to make their pitches less hittable. Trevor Bauer was the first high profile major leaguer to be investigated this season, an investigation he framed as fake news.
Teng is the 18th ranked prospect in the Giants’ system according to MLB, a 22-year old right hander from Taiwan who was acquired in the Sam Dyson trade in 2019. Teng is off to a rough start (1-2 with a 5.03 ERA in five starts) after dominating in Augusta (7-0 with a 1.58 ERA and a .510 opponent OPS) in 2019.