Orioles reliever makes stunning claim about sticky-stuff usage across MLB

New York Mets star reliever Edwin Diaz's ejection on "Sunday Night Baseball" and pending suspension has put MLB pitchers' usage of "sticky stuff" back in the headlines.

Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Danny Coulombe appeared on the "Foul Territory" podcast on Monday to discuss the topic and said that MLB needs to be clearer on what is and isn't allowed for hurlers.

"I've had a few guys, especially young guys, they come up and they hit the rosin bag on a hot day when it's sweaty out and all of a sudden their hands are a little black and they're like 'I'm gonna get busted,'" the veteran lefty said. "It penalizes your team on such a high level with losing a roster spot and so they're terrified of anything like that. There's too much gray (area). There's nobody on our team that's using anything, so it's like, they're just scared to get busted for just having the stuff that's out there. ... It's just hard when it's a substance that's given to you, but you can't use too much of it. It's just such a gray area."

Coulombe later admitted to having "used substances" in the past but added that he believed before the league's crackdown , the majority of pitchers were as well.

"It's definitely causing a paranoia," the 34-year-old said. "Before the sticky checks, I used substances, and I'd say about 80% of the league did. Trying to figure out how to throw without it, and then, if you get caught, you get busted for something that you're not using anymore, it's really frustrating. ... In my opinion, I wish they had some sort of criteria they could do, but I just don't know how they could enforce that."

During Monday's edition of his "Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney" podcast, ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney said that "folks around baseball" were telling him 'Look, we all know there are hundreds of pitchers using sticky stuff.'" That would seem to back up Coulombe's words.