Are Baseballs "Juiced" This Season?

[DrungoHazewood]

4 minutes ago, atomic said:

Or it could be it is warmer this year.  The Orioles don't seem to be hitting a crazy amount of home runs. 

Perhaps.  The league as a whole is hitting homers at an unprecedented rate.

[atomic]

8 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Perhaps.  The league as a whole is hitting homers at an unprecedented rate.

Both Bundy and Straily have lead the league in Home Runs allowed in a previous season.  Hess gave up 22 home runs last year in a 100 innings.  Its not like anyone is close to giving up as many home runs as the Orioles. 

[nate22]

I think that with the emphasis now on launch angles, Bundy might be better served working his fastball up in the strikezone. His fastball isn't good enough to work at the knees and might play up higher in the zone.

[SteveA]

2 hours ago, nate22 said:

I think that with the emphasis now on launch angles, Bundy might be better served working his fastball up in the strikezone. His fastball isn't good enough to work at the knees and might play up higher in the zone.

That's what Hess is explicitly trying to do.   One night it works and he pitches a no hitter.   Another night the outfield seats come under heavy fire.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Just now, SteveA said:

That's what Hess is explicitly trying to do.   One night it works and he pitches a no hitter.   Another night the outfield seats come under heavy fire.

You mean every other night the outfield seats come under heavy fire. 

[ArtVanDelay]

The balls have been juiced since 2015. 

[Moose Milligan]

MLB finds itself in a tricky situation, kinda.  They need homers and big offense because they know that sells but they can't have PEDs because that's bad.  So...yeah, I'd assume that the balls have been juiced for awhile now.  

[LookitsPuck]

3 hours ago, atomic said:

Or maybe they have bad analytics that are telling them to throw the ball in the wrong place to the wrong hitter.  Or maybe the Orioles pitchers aren't very good.  Bundy sure gave up a lot of home runs last year. 

All of the above aside from juiced balls.

[Can_of_corn]

11 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

MLB finds itself in a tricky situation, kinda.  They need homers and big offense because they know that sells but they can't have PEDs because that's bad.  So...yeah, I'd assume that the balls have been juiced for awhile now.  

But jucing the ball leads to more walks and strikouts and fewer balls in play.

[Satyr3206]

My theory is that if you had a fewer pitchers that threw 95 the Homers would go down. The harder you throw the further it goes.

Calling the correct strike zone would help a bit too.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Satyr3206 said:

My theory is that if you had a fewer pitchers that threw 95 the Homers would go down. The harder you throw the further it goes.

Calling the correct strike zone would help a bit too.

I think if you had fewer pitchers that threw 95 you would have less strikeouts and that would lead to more homeruns.

I'd like robo-umps.

[allquixotic]

6 hours ago, atomic said:

Or it could be it is warmer this year.  The Orioles don't seem to be hitting a crazy amount of home runs. 

That's what I'm thinking. The Orioles hitters hit the same baseball the other team hits, right? If so, why are our home runs so low?

[nate22]

8 hours ago, allquixotic said:

That's what I'm thinking. The Orioles hitters hit the same baseball the other team hits, right? If so, why are our home runs so low?

We use paper bats.

[BohKnowsBmore]

15 hours ago, atomic said:

Or it could be it is warmer this year.  The Orioles don't seem to be hitting a crazy amount of home runs. 

I would think you and others would be happy. For five or so years I’ve heard disappointment with over-reliance on the home run and fetishization of manufacturing runs. 

[ArtVanDelay]

11 hours ago, Satyr3206 said:

My theory is that if you had a fewer pitchers that threw 95 the Homers would go down. The harder you throw the further it goes.

Calling the correct strike zone would help a bit too.

I believe home runs have more to do with bat speed than pitch speed.