 Everyday more and more baseballs are getting hit out of the ballpark, and pitchers are saying there's something just not right.
As I'm writing this article, the MLB has just surpassed 1,070 home-runs in the month of June, a new single-month record. Dan Warthen, the Mets pitching coach was asked about this situation and had a couple words to say: "You’re seeing guys going opposite field, breaking their bats, and the balls are flying out. It’s the balls. They’re throwing harder with it, but they’re getting less movement, so they’re just hanging there." MLB commissioner Rob Manfred clarifies that the Rawlings baseballs have not changed this year. MLB pitchers think differently. "There’s just something different about the baseballs,’’ Miami Marlins veteran reliever Brad Ziegler said. “I don’t have anything to quantify it, but the balls just don’t feel the same. It just feels different to me, a little harder, tighter than the past. Pitchers went on to say how they've seen a lot of batters hitting homers that normally don't hit a lot of them. Jerry Blevins even mentioned how Jacob Degrom hit a opposite-field homer. Going on to say how you don't often see opposite power home runs at Citi Field. Furthermore, more and more pitchers keep getting blisters apparently from the different seams of the ball, and normally that has never happened to them before. While the Mets were playing the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, a foul ball was hit towards Dan Warthen in the dugout. Warthen went over to Terry Collins, and told him "feel this ball" and it was the hardest ball TC had ever felt. During that four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Mets had let up 15 homers, a franchise-record. What do you guys think? Is it the balls or the batter? Here are the updated NL Playoff Chances by FanGraph. Mets have 14.7 % chance as of June 1st.  |