Morning Mound Visit: MLB to crack down on foreign substances

Jesse Rogers | ESPN: On Wednesday, MLB sent a memo to all 30 teams that it will be cracking down on the use of foreign substances by pitchers. MLB will be inspecting balls taken out of play, analyzing Statcast data to identify jumps in spin rate, and increasing the monitoring of dugouts and clubhouses.

Cody Poage | The Crawfish Boxes: The Astros have signed Lance McCullers Jr. to a five-year extension worth a guaranteed $85 million. McCullers was originally slated to reach free agency after the 2021 season, but now his contract expires after 2026. McCullers missed the entirety of the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but in 2020, he was more or less his old self.

Brett Ballantini | South Side Sox: The spring training injury train keeps on rolling and yesterday, it came for Eloy Jiménez. While attempting to rob a home run off the bat of Sean Murphy, Jiménez hurt his shoulder and had to leave the game. At the time of writing, the severity of Jiménez’s injury was unknown. The White Sox will receive results some time on Thursday.