According to Eno Sarris and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, MLB is making changes to the baseball for the 2021 season which will reduce offense.
Big news. In addition, five unidentified teams are adding humidors for storage of baseballs, bringing the total to 10 (the Rockies, Red Sox, Diamondbacks, Mets, and Mariners already use them) across the league. The Athletic obtained a memo which was sent to teams last Friday detailing the minor changes. The ball produced by Rawlings will be slightly less bouncy, but the overarching goal of these changes seem to be one of consistency. While this is being pitched as slight alterations, there will surely be some unintended consequences we can't possibly account for right now. Player evaluation was already going to be tough after the shortened 2020 campaign, but this makes it even more difficult.
Source: The Athletic
Feb 8, 2021, 2:04 PM ET
MLB is making changes to the baseball for the 2021 season which will reduce offense.
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MLB is making changes to the baseball for the 2021 season which will reduce offense.
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Re: MLB is making changes to the baseball for the 2021 season which will reduce offense.
Be nice if they did something about baseball slowly becoming a TTO fest.
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Re: MLB is making changes to the baseball for the 2021 season which will reduce offense.
Be nice to have baseballs the same across all of MLB
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Re: MLB is making changes to the baseball for the 2021 season which will reduce offense.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/an-early-lo ... -baseball/An Early Look at the New Baseball
by Justin Choi
April 9, 2021
There have been fluctuations in batted ball numbers and offensive environments before, but the fact that we’re alerted to a change this early into the season, one with implications for how we evaluate players, is somewhat alarming. Hitters are under scrutiny, and so are pitchers. In theory, those with a penchant for allowing fly balls are aided by a ball that travels less. The specs could change down the road – this is an early look, after all – but there’s mounting evidence that we’re correct about the gist. Connor Kurcon, for example, has illustrated that the Top 1% of exit velocities around the league are up by around 1 mph regardless of batted ball type. Debates about the official ball have become a sort of annual tradition. But really, they shouldn’t be.