New AAA Baseballs Will Likely Boost Scoring In 2019

[Enjoy Terror]

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/new-triple-a-baseballs-will-likely-boost-scoring-in-2019/

 

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COLUMBUS, Ohio—Tuesday’s Triple-A national championship game was the finale for minor league baseballs at the Triple-A level.

Beginning next year, both Triple-A leagues will use baseballs made to the same specifications as Major League Baseball’s balls.

If pretty much anyone and everyone who has used both baseballs is correct, that will mean that scoring and home runs will be up in Triple-A next year. Players have long believed that the major league balls are hotter than the minor league balls.

When major leaguers rehab at a minor league park, they have the option of having major league balls subbed in for when they pitch or hit. The viewpoint that minor league balls don’t carry as far is so prevalent that there have been rehabbing major league pitchers who have opted to use the minor league balls. They felt it would help them keep the ball in the park, even though the seams and covering of the balls are not what they are used to pitching with normally.

The idea of the PCL getting a further offensive boost should be a frightening idea for pitchers. With some of the best hitters' parks in the minors thanks to plenty of altitude, the PCL averaged 5.0 runs per team per game in 2018. Five teams in the league gave up 5.5 runs or more per game.

To the eye, the new balls will still look like they are Triple-A baseballs. The International League baseballs will be signed by league president Randy Mobley and Pacific Coast League president Branch Rickey will sign the PCL balls, but other than the stamp and the signatures, they will be identical to the major league balls.

The new baseballs will also add some expense for minor league teams. The average minor league team uses between 600 and 800 dozen baseballs over the course of the season. The old balls costs roughly $50 a dozen while the new balls will cost closer to $100 a dozen. That expense is shared between the big league club and the Triple-A franchise.

 

 

[Aglets]

Alex Cobb is like a kid on Christmas morning right now.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Aglets said:

Alex Cobb is like a kid on Christmas morning right now.

What do you want to bet that the ML balls are causing his blister problem?

[Aglets]

lol, if I was Buck it would definitely be hard for me not to propose that he try using a minor league ball.

[ScGO's]

Baseball is getting too "tweaky." A lot of these changes in the name of profit, I mean,  making the game more exciting scare me a bit.  I hope the new MILB rule where the runner starts on second to start extras never comes to MLB.  I hope they don't go for robot umps one day either.  That's part of what makes baseball great, the blown call.  It gives people something to talk about forever.  Its part of what makes baseball so dramatic.  I think it would suck the emotion out of games if balls and strikes were determined by a robot.  We'd all walk back to our cars, plain-faced, saying to our fellow fans, "That game was very fair. Well, good night, Comrade."

[PaulFolk]

10 hours ago, ScGO's said:

Baseball is getting too "tweaky." A lot of these changes in the name of profit, I mean,  making the game more exciting scare me a bit.  I hope the new MILB rule where the runner starts on second to start extras never comes to MLB.  I hope they don't go for robot umps one day either.  That's part of what makes baseball great, the blown call.  It gives people something to talk about forever.  Its part of what makes baseball so dramatic.  I think it would suck the emotion out of games if balls and strikes were determined by a robot.  We'd all walk back to our cars, plain-faced, saying to our fellow fans, "That game was very fair. Well, good night, Comrade."

I don't think that's true at all. For me, the emotion and excitement comes (or at least should come) from the players themselves. We go to games to watch the best players in the world succeed or fail against their opponents, not to watch umpires affect the outcome of games with blown calls or ever-shifting strike zones. Having critical moments of games decided by the umpires rather than the players isn't what baseball should be.

I agree with you about the minor league extra inning rule, though. That rule is dumb, dumb, dumb.

[Redskins Rick]

I agree with the move to major league balls. It should have been done years ago.

I dont get aluminum bats in college and high school, if they are not allow to be used in the majors.

I applaud MLB to trying to tweak the game of baseball. It needs to be tweaked, considering how the fan base for MLB is in decline.

But, this extra inning rule makes no sense.

I didn't like NFL overtime rule changes, but actually, they seam be working, and wasn't as bad, as I had thought they would be.

So maybe this happens to the MIB extra inning change. Bottom line, you dont want to extend your pitching staff in extra inning games.

[weams]

 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

Well, the results so far seem to prove this right...

[Luke-OH]

6 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

Well, the results so far seem to prove this right...

Yeah, it's pretty obvious, we need to all re-calibrate what a good Norfolk ERA, FIP, OPS, etc is. 

A league average batting line in the Eastern League is a 20-30% below average line in the International League right now. 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

1 hour ago, Luke-OH said:

Yeah, it's pretty obvious, we need to all re-calibrate what a good Norfolk ERA, FIP, OPS, etc is. 

A league average batting line in the Eastern League is a 20-30% below average line in the International League right now. 

I know it was a small sample size, but your guy Van Meter was on a 70 home run pace. There are 5 other players who have already hit 10 home runs in AAA, in 30ish games. 

[Luke-OH]

7 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

I know it was a small sample size, but your guy Van Meter was on a 70 home run pace. There are 5 other players who have already hit 10 home runs in AAA, in 30ish games. 

Yeah, he had the league leading line (86% better than league average), but the MLB ball definitely contributed to the HR total.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

36 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

Yeah, he had the league leading line (86% better than league average), but the MLB ball definitely contributed to the HR total.

I can't wait to see some PCL stats at the end of the season compared to the last 5 years.