Laundry the Cause of David Price's Poor Start?

It has not been a good start to the season for the reigning AL Cy Young winner, Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher David Price. Through nine starts he has a 1-4 record with a 5.24 ERA. His 1.44 WHIP is--well, if you know what a WHIP is you know that's not good.

And the problem could be tied into his laundry.

Since mid-January Price has been struggling to deal with blurred vision and rashes. Recently he got an allergy test done and was given some eye drops to help him deal with the vision issues.

What do ya know...I'm allergic to EVERYTHING!!! Hives everywhere...I just want to scratch myself for an hour twitter.com/DAVIDprice14/s…
— David Price (@DAVIDprice14) May 14, 2013

Price and the team believe that he cold be allergic to the chemicals in the detergent that the team uses when they do laundry. Turns out that some of the chemicals found in his clothes can cause him to break out and for his vision to blur.

The team will be washing his stuff separate from everyone else now, but they will also have to wait for his left triceps (which he is on the 15-day DL for) to get better before they can see how much of a difference it will make.

Rays manager Joe Maddon and Price are not blaming his poor start on the laundry, but it has to have played a factor. If his vision is so blurry at times that he can't see the catcher's signals how in the world can he be expected to get the ball over the plate?

[FOXSports]