Has the MLB altered its baseballs for the 2022 season? Examining its impact on hitting and pitching
The MLB has a baseball problem. Offense is down to its lowest point in over thirty years, and players, particularly on the New York Mets, keep getting pelted with fastballs up high. These occurrences could be coincidental, but they're more likely due to the MLB altering its baseballs last season.
Has the game of baseball ever been this boring? No offense at all, deflated baseballs, players looking awful due to shortened spring training, just a bad product in every way! #DirtyWater
"Has the game of baseball ever been this boring? No offense at all, deflated baseballs, players looking awful due to shortened spring training, just a bad product in every way!" - @ Sammy James
The MLB made slight changes to its balls last season, then added a few new rules this season about how baseballs are to be stored. Could this be the cause of decreased offense and increased wild pitching? Let's take a look.
Has the MLB altered its baseballs for the 2022 season?
First off, the MLB altered its baseballs last season, but we're only seeing the full effect of that now. Last year, "The Athletic" reported that the league made changes to deaden the MLB's baseballs as a measure to counteract the soaring home run totals during the 2019 season. The league announced that the new balls would be lighter and have more consistent, predictable bounce. Analysts discovered that the new baseballs decreased hit distance by one to two feet on average, and sometimes much more.
But the MLB decided that wasn't enough. They introduced new measures to further deaden the ball this year, including mandatory storage of game balls in humidors before they enter play. The Colorado Rockies have always used this technique at home because of the thin mountain air at Coors Field, which naturally causes balls to travel further when hit. The humidors prevent the balls from drying out and becoming lighter. In turn, the increased weight takes away a good deal of their flight. The lighter balls only took a couple feet off hits, but the humidors are already reportedly having a larger impact.
Dave Roberts said he has noticed a difference during #Dodgers first home stand with the humidor baseballs "The games I've seen, guys are not being rewarded for squaring a baseball up like they have in the past." #MLB
"Dave Roberts said he has noticed a difference during #Dodgers first home stand with the humidor baseballs 'The games I've seen, guys are not being rewarded for squaring a baseball up like they have in the past.'" - @ David Vassegh
Plus, we're only seeing the lighter, altered balls from two years ago. It takes some time for the league to produce balls and then get them into play. Baseballs produced a year ago are coming into use now, and that's why we're seeing such a sudden difference.
Just saw Cody Bellinger tattoo a curve ball into the right field corner for a loud out.
I'm already seriously tired of these humidifier soaked baseballs.
We want offense... let the baseball fly, no more humidifiers!!!
Well, maybe in Colorado...
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"Just saw Cody Bellinger tattoo a curve ball into the right field corner for a loud out. I'm already seriously tired of these humidifier soaked baseballs. We want offense... let the baseball fly, no more humidifiers!!! Well, maybe in Colorado..." - @ Bat-tech Rider (not a doc) Doc McVinny
Fans and baseball journalists around the league are reacting strongly to the obvious decrease in offense this season. It's pretty hard not to be upset when you see your favorite team making perfect contact only for the ball to die in center field because of increased weight.
Baseballs are being absolutely crushed and the humidor is killing them on the warning track. Yaz just got robbed of a game tying homer in Queens. I think I hate this.
"Baseballs are being absolutely crushed and the humidor is killing them on the warning track. Yaz just got robbed of a game tying homer in Queens. I think I hate this." - @ Molly Knight
To illustrate the extent of the effect the new baseballs are having on the league, take a look at these statistics. This April, MLB teams are averaging just 0.91 home runs per game, which is down dramatically from last year's average of 1.19. Players are collectively hitting a weak .291, and teams are only scoring around four runs per game on average.
Pitchers aren't loving the new baseballs either. Aside from their tendency to decrease offense, these new baseballs also run wild out of pitchers' hands. Last week, Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt complained that the baseballs are bad and that the "MLB doesn't give a d**n about it."
"I had some close calls tonight. I've been hit in the face, I don't ever want to do that to anybody ever. MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs. They're bad. Everyone knows it. They don't care. MLB doesn't give a damn about it."
- Chris Bassitt https://t.co/KMc0bAhYPx
"'I had some close calls tonight. I've been hit in the face, I don't ever want to do that to anybody ever. MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs. They're bad. Everyone knows it. They don't care. MLB doesn't give a damn about it.' - Chris Bassitt" - @ SNY
It's also pretty obvious to see how these new balls are running wild when you look at how many times Mets' batters have been hit by pitches this season. Look no further than Pete Alonso. They've already been hit by sixteen pitches, and it's only April.
The Mets have been hit more than any team in the league this season
They are averaging 0.95 HBP/game
"The Mets have been hit more than any team in the league this season. They are averaging 0.95 HBP/game" - @ MetsMuse
It's hard to say why the Mets in particular have been getting hit by so many pitches, but Bassitt's complaint about the balls from a pitcher's perspective hints that perhaps the humidors at Citi Field are making heavier balls than at any other ballpark. It's speculative, but if all this adds up, it wouldn't be surprising. After all, coincidences are rarer than causes.