Are Baseballs "Juiced" This Season?

[Tryptamine]

Verlander has been ridiculously lucky so far. A 90.7LOB% is more than 15% over his career average and his .181babip isn't even remotely sustainable, his career number is .281.

[OFFNY]

16 minutes ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

The AL starting pitcher for tomorrow's All-Star game is Justin Verlander.

Verlander leads the Major Leagues in Home Runs Ceded (26), but he also leads the Major Leagues in WHIP (0.813) and the American League in Hits-Per-9 Innings (5.400) ......... hence, I would presume that that is part of the reason for his very solid ERA of 2.98 (he gives up round-trippers, but not a lot of base-runners.)

 

In regard to the notion of juiced balls, Verlander's Home Run rate of 1.847 is by far the highest of his Major League career.

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/verlaju01.shtml

 

o

 

 

14 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

 

Verlander has been ridiculously lucky so far.

A 90.7 LOB% is more than 15% over his career average, and his .181 BABIP isn't even remotely sustainable ........ his career number is .281.

 

o

 

Thanks for the additional info.

 

o

[TonySoprano]

Quote

 "It's a f---ing joke," said Verlander, an eight-time All-Star who is starting his second All-Star Game on Tuesday. "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."

Asked if he believed the balls were intentionally juiced by the league, Verlander said: "Yes. 100 percent. They've been using juiced balls in the Home Run Derby forever. They know how to do it. It's not coincidence. I find it really hard to believe that Major League Baseball owns Rawlings and just coincidentally the balls become juiced."

Quote

"I hate the way I feel out there," Verlander told ESPN. "No matter who's the batter, I feel like I'm constantly walking a tightrope, because any batter can go opposite field. Any batter can leave with any pitch that's anywhere in the zone. You can't miss barrels anymore. You have to miss bats. There's been multiple times this year where five years ago I'd probably just throw a fastball away. I can't do that. Because you're the 8-, 9-hole hitter and you still can hit an opposite-field homer."

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

 

[Punchandjudy]

22 hours ago, Punchandjudy said:

Are the baseballs juiced? I don’t think that’s the real question.  Rather, I want to know: was juicing the balls intentional? 

Guess Verlander answered my question above and then some! 

Next question, will MLB change the balls back? Or will they basically do the same thing they did by turning a blind eye to dopers and completely invalidate all the stats that came before.

[Tryptamine]

It's not just the stats that are the issue. The game is just boring to watch now. Homeruns were special things, but now you see 3 or 4 just about every game. If I remember right the Phillies/Mets had something crazy like 13 in a game earlier this year.

[Frobby]

Just now, Punchandjudy said:

Guess Verlander answered my question above and then some! 

Next question, will MLB change the balls back? Or will they basically do the same thing they did by turning a blind eye to dopers and completely invalidate all the stats that came before.

They have a big dilemma because of the ever-increasing velocity at which pitchers are throwing.   With strikeouts way up, if they don’t juice the ball, runs are going to go down drastically.

[byrdz]

Quote

Home runs are so plentiful (too plentiful?) that teams have stopped running (the stolen base rate is the lowest in 48 years) and pitchers are more willing to walk a batter rather than throw a challenge pitch and risk a home run (walks are the highest in a decade).

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/07/08/cody-bellinger-christian-yelich-mike-trout-home-runs-juiced-ball-mlb-2019-baseball-trends

[25 Nuggets]

This is what I don't get about the whole situation.

I read the article and the quotes from Verlander.  He isn't saying the game is being made a joke.  It's the secrecy by MLB that's the joke.

Rob Manfred or whoever MLB executive says, "we want more offense.  we're making changes to the baseball and here they are".   We have no issue!  I'm not aware of anything illegal about making changes to equipment unless they violate safety laws.  Does it violate something in the collective bargaining agreement?  Why in the world is there a want to make changes to the baseball covert???  It happens over and over again - we had this discussion before!  It makes absolutely no sense.

Stop getting in your own way MLB.

[BohKnowsBmore]

12 minutes ago, 25 Nuggets said:

This is what I don't get about the whole situation.

I read the article and the quotes from Verlander.  He isn't saying the game is being made a joke.  It's the secrecy by MLB that's the joke.

Rob Manfred or whoever MLB executive says, "we want more offense.  we're making changes to the baseball and here they are".   We have no issue!  I'm not aware of anything illegal about making changes to equipment unless they violate safety laws.  Does it violate something in the collective bargaining agreement?  Why in the world is there a want to make changes to the baseball covert???  It happens over and over again - we had this discussion before!  It makes absolutely no sense.

Stop getting in your own way MLB.

Admitting a deliberate change to the ball would give a lot of ammo to argue that the record books are tainted, something that would be a huge turnoff to traditional fans. Mlb wants to eat cake and have it too, attract casual fans/the youths without alienating core fan base. 

[Maverick Hiker]

In the late 1990's and early 2000's when the HR totals shot up, people naively speculated about the baseballs being juiced.  Of course,  it turned out that the players were on steroids and HGH, and that is what caused the HR totals to go up.

In my opinion, the exact same thing is happening now. The HR totals are going up,, and people are naively speculating about the baseballs being juiced.   History is quite simply repeating itself. The players have found ways to get around the testing and  as Segui said in today's USA article, the great majority of MLB players are taking something to improve their performance. (Segui says at least 60% of current MLB players are on PED). 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/verlaju01.shtml

To be talking  about the balls being juiced and Verlander's speculations, I think you are wasting your time on a red herring.  The PED use in MLB is getting out of control, and the results of the games are being distorted by such stats as the HR totals (and strikeouts). 

[25 Nuggets]

The balls were altered in the late 90s and aughts, in addition to the PEDs.  And the smaller ballparks, and all the other stuff.

This is not a one-or-the-other situation.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Maverick Hiker said:

In the late 1990's and early 2000's when the HR totals shot up, people naively speculated about the baseballs being juiced.  Of course,  it turned out that the players were on steroids and HGH, and that is what caused the HR totals to go up.

In my opinion, the exact same thing is happening now. The HR totals are going up,, and people are naively speculating about the baseballs being juiced.   History is quite simply repeating itself. The players have found ways to get around the testing and  as Segui said in today's USA article, the great majority of MLB players are taking something to improve their performance. (Segui says at least 60% of current MLB players are on PED). 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/verlaju01.shtml

To be talking  about the balls being juiced and Verlander's speculations, I think you are wasting your time on a red herring.  The PED use in MLB is getting out of control, and the results of the games are being distorted by such stats as the HR totals (and strikeouts). 

Players were using PEDs well before the late 90's. 

[25 Nuggets]

27 minutes ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

Admitting a deliberate change to the ball would give a lot of ammo to argue that the record books are tainted, something that would be a huge turnoff to traditional fans. Mlb wants to eat cake and have it too, attract casual fans/the youths without alienating core fan base. 

MLB's got a stick up their ass is what it is.

[Maverick Hiker]

Strikeouts are up and pitchers are getting bigger. I think both batters (more HR) and pitchers (strikeouts going up)  are on PED.

If the baseball being juiced is causing more HR, then how do you explain the larger sized pitchers and the increased strikeout totals? If the ball is juiced then batters would presumably not have to swing as hard,  just make contact, and there would be fewer strikeouts not more.

Also if the ball is juiced and flying off the bat faster, I would expect there would be more incidents of pitchers getting hurt by line drives hit  back up the middle and hitting the pitcher before he could react.  I have not heard of any such increase.

 

[Sessh]

12 minutes ago, Maverick Hiker said:

In the late 1990's and early 2000's when the HR totals shot up, people naively speculated about the baseballs being juiced.  Of course,  it turned out that the players were on steroids and HGH, and that is what caused the HR totals to go up.

In my opinion, the exact same thing is happening now. The HR totals are going up,, and people are naively speculating about the baseballs being juiced.   History is quite simply repeating itself. The players have found ways to get around the testing and  as Segui said in today's USA article, the great majority of MLB players are taking something to improve their performance. (Segui says at least 60% of current MLB players are on PED). 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/verlaju01.shtml

To be talking  about the balls being juiced and Verlander's speculations, I think you are wasting your time on a red herring.  The PED use in MLB is getting out of control, and the results of the games are being distorted by such stats as the HR totals (and strikeouts). 

Getting out of hand? You do realize that just about everyone was on amphetamines in the 60's and 70's, right? Guys were doing steroids they wouldn't give to horses as well as growth hormones. Amphetamines have been around since the mid 1800's and steroids since the mid 1930's. Cocaine was legal in the early 1900's as well. This delusion that PED's just came out of nowhere in the 90's has to go. The drugs just got better in the 90's, that's it. The record books have been tainted for a very long time. I would say it's likely that over 75% of guys in there used PEDs. Aaron did. Mays did. Mantle did. Pretty much everybody did back then.

Heck, Pud Galvin showed in 1889 that even back then, guys were willing to inject dubious substances into their body to try to extend their careers. Guys will do anything to get to MLB and stay there as long as they can. It's not going to change. Professional sports without PEDs would likely be extremely boring. Such a product has never, ever existed and likely never will and I don't know how anyone can assume that it would be a good product much less a better one.