Report: MLB monitoring playing surface at Rogers Centre due to irregular bounces

The new turf at Rogers Centre is stirring up more than just black pellets.

Major League Baseball is looking into the Toronto Blue Jays' playing surface, sources tell Jon Morosi of FOX Sports, due to irregular bounces during the club's current homestand against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Morosi says the league has yet to arrive at any conclusions or resolutions as it relates to the new turf, but is concerned with any issues that might affect fair play.

So are the players.

Jose Bautista is among several Blue Jays who have noted the surface is much slower and thicker than the artificial turf the team used for the last five years.

"It's weird, but we're going to have to adjust," he said. "It's definitely a lot slower than it was in the past and a lot slower than any other artificial turf I've ever laid my feet on."

Blue Jays officials told Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star that the turf conditions will improve over time:

Jays officials say the turf will quicken as it is used more, and particularly after it is rolled a few times and the rubber infill - those black pellets, which puff a smoke-like cloud with every bounce - settles into the simulated root zone.

Rays shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was on the receiving end of those black pellets Monday after fielding a chopper in the third inning. He stayed in the game after being attended to by trainers.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

The Blue Jays are expected to transition to natural grass for the start of the 2018 season.