Chicago Cubs: Carl Edwards Jr. forced back into old delivery

During spring training, Carl Edwards Jr. worked on and adopted a new delivery featuring a long pause and toe tap. Now, MLB baseball has ruled it to be illegal.

After debuting his new pitching motion on Saturday against the Texas Rangers, Major League Baseball informed the Chicago Cubs that he was using an illegal delivery.

Carl Edwards Jr’s delivery is illegal because he’s not allowed to hit the ground twice or come to a complete stop. The Chicago Cubs and manager Joe Maddon were a little unclear on the MLB’s official ruling, especially considering the delivery is modeled after Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen.

"“You can’t hit the ground twice apparently, but for years the guys did the double pump, and their back foot will hit the ground twice,” Maddon said in an interview with MLB.com. “Pitchers that come set and their foot will tap, tap, tap, and then they’ll come set and pitch. There’s all that, so maybe they’re talking about after you start your delivery. I don’t know.”"

The deliveries between both relievers were certainly similar in some aspects but Edwards was much bumpier than Jansen. Edwards came to a complete stop by double-tapping the ground whereas Jansen came to a pause and glided to the plate without touching the ground a second time.

Edwards’ delivery did not go over well when he debuted it against the Texas Rangers. In the middle of Asdrubal Cabrera’s at-bat, he along with manager Chris Woodward complained about the delivery and Edwards’ pause.