power surge / juiced baseballs 2018

nine homers hit in reno last night, with no wind

AAA Home Run Totals:
April 2018 - 551
April 2019 - 960
AAA leagues started using MLB baseballs in 2019.

— Minor League Stories (@MinorsTeamNames) May 1, 2019

most homerish month

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26866585/mlb-record-1135-hrs-hit-may

3 ppl in my beer league softball hit their first career home runs yesterday, two of whom are in their 4th years i think and the third idk how long he's played... so this problem runs all the way from the bottom to the top is what i'm saying

your league obviously needs a humidor

a good start would be more than two balls so that a particularly foul-y at-bat doesn't take 3 minutes to continue on the third pitch

read a conspiracy theory that MLB intentionally juiced the ball to create more offense to make games last longer so that they'd have more ammunition regarding the need to improve pace of play in MLBPA negotiations

assigning way too much creativity to Park Ave i think

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27026944/mazara-505-foot-hr-ties-longest-statcast-era

Todd Frazier throws his bat in disgust thinking he popped out. The juiced ball had something else in mind ⚾️ 💉 pic.twitter.com/gWCPWStJku

— Gotham Sports Network (@GothamSN) June 22, 2019

Manfred hemming, hawing

https://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/david-lennon/mlb-home-run-surge-pill-1.32780501

thanking u for screen name

Gwinnett set its single-season home run record tonight. Notably, it is June 28.

— Josh Norris (@jnorris427) June 29, 2019

MLB set the mark for the most home runs in one month — for the second month in a row.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27097075/going-going-gone-mlb-again-hits-new-hr-mark

so Justin Verlander said things

"Major League Baseball's turning this game into a joke. They own Rawlings, and you've got Manfred up here saying it might be the way they center the pill. They own the f---ing company. If any other $40 billion company bought out a $400 million company and the product changed dramatically, it's not a guess as to what happened. We all know what happened. Manfred the first time he came in, what'd he say? He said we want more offense. All of a sudden he comes in, the balls are juiced? It's not coincidence. We're not idiots."

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27149029/verlander-mlb-juicing-balls-more-offense

It *is* a joke and Manfred is terrible

I am just gonna blame him also for the sartorial nightmare that every "special event" game has become with the relaxation of "uniform" rules and barfy variety of shoes/hats/socks/patches

there was nothing wrong with baseball *or* the uniforms

New Ball Has Made 2019 A Season Unlike Any Other

https://www.baseballamerica.com/media/11886/screen-shot-2019-08-05-at-52623-pm.png

soon it'll be like cricket where they hit the ball over the 'boundary' 20 times a day and everyone claps politely

Ian Happ hit a 474 ft homer yesterday. He had a sweet swing on it but man that’s a lot of mileage on an Ian Happ fly ball.

the second javy home run in that game looked more like a product of the juiced ball than the happ home run

Jaffe on adjusting the Twins' record

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/adjusting-the-twins-new-home-run-record/

Has there been any analysis on home run distance this season? I feel like I continue to see these guys cracking McGwire-distance home runs and they’re coming off the bat of like Danny Santana.

Home runs at Triple-A level surge 58% (with MLB balls)

Today in Too Many Homers: the Yankees (278) have reclaimed the MLB lead and with it the single-season team record from the Twins. Also, last night, Orioles' Jonathan Villar hit the majors' 6,106th homer of 2019 surpassing 2017's total for a new record with *18 days* remaining

— Jay Jaffe (@jay_jaffe) September 12, 2019

73 players with 25+ HR, one off the record. Fourteen more sitting within two.

(name them, lol)

In 2002, major league shortstops hit 423 home runs. As of 2015, that was still the all-time record. This year, shortstops have hit 629 home runs.

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBB) September 18, 2019

What would be the over/under for HR in the Yankees/Twins series? Based on the season, 3.78 per game.

of course, that's based on average pitching

what's the over/under on sprains?

Air resistance in the playoffs has shot up to the highest level since 2016, causing fewer homers. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that the postseason baseball is totally different than the one used in the regular season. https://t.co/U4NBMd05k9 pic.twitter.com/bdIl09blQF

— Rob Arthur (@No_Little_Plans) October 10, 2019

verrrry interrresting

nothing to see here

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELg-6IdWkAUq0JE?format=jpg&name=large

🤔

Fewer home runs might be hit this year in baseball, sacrifices on the path to efficiency and standardization. Multiple sources confirm the ball’s construction will change slightly, and five more teams are adding humidors for ball storage — all parts of MLB’s attempt to reduce the wild recent year-to-year swings in home run rates league-wide.

https://theathletic.com/2375121/2021/02/08/mlb-changes-baseball-deadening

i’m not a fan of the power surge but those “solutions” feel kind of pathetic

i would much prefer snipers in the OF bleachers attempting to shoot down home runs before they can leave the park, myself.

hope it works

could use a smaller strike zone while we're at it

make that archers. i like archers better.

ball's still juiced

We think the higher drag ball is the new one because teams started using it more and more as ST went on. That has big implications for the regular season: the ball may travel further--despite the higher drag--and the league may have the highest HR rate ever, even beyond 2019.

— Rob Arthur (@No_Little_Plans) March 31, 2021

so better for pitchers AND better for the longball i.e. even more strikeouts and even more home runs? great

Im kinda wondering what would happen if pitchers pitched slower

that's what moving the mound back would do, right? i'm all in favor tbh

velocities are insane right now. only strategy is to 'cheat' the pitch, hit and hope. and if you're going to hit and hope might as well really wind up and swing for the fences with a low bat angle.

an extra split second to get a bead on where the ball is would change that equation

One does not have to move the mound back to throw less hard tho is the thing. If we’re at the upper limit of what bodies are capable of velo-wise (which i believe to be fairly true) then we need to rediscover the floor of what is successful (bring back slop throwers)

love it! bring back the eephus!

seriously. rich hill kinda does this w/ his curveball (throw it all the time if it's that good); grinkie does it now and again as a troll (and could probably do it more)

does anybody remember laughter?????

Wtf is going on with this

But wait -- there's more.
Giants outfielder Austin Slater was curious about the 2022 baseball(s). He tried to send balls to Dr. Wills, but pulled back after the MLBPA relayed a message from the commissioner's office warning that MLB could fire people for giving out baseballs.

— Bradford William Davis (parody) (@BWDBWDBWD) December 6, 2022

And the link to the actual piece

anyway so much more. pretty graphs, fun quotes from Clayton Kershaw, Nick Castellanos, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and more.
and hit me up if you got questions about the journalism or @Bbl_Astrophyscs on the science. https://t.co/PY13e4KDkv

— Bradford William Davis (parody) (@BWDBWDBWD) December 6, 2022