Spike in home runs puzzling to Manfred
Commissioner cites bats, hitting style
MIAMI — Whatever is causing baseballs to leave stadiums at a record clip this season, Commissioner Rob Manfred insisted again on Tuesday that the culprit is not “juiced” baseballs, but said Major League Baseball is beginning to examine the composition of bats as a possible factor, and ultimately concluded we may never know the “whole answer” for this year’s spike in home runs.
Speaking to members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America prior to the 88th Allstar Game, Manfred said the sport has “done more testing on the baseballs in the last few years than (ever), and we know with certainty the baseball falls within the specifications that have existed for many years.”
“We are in the process of trying to come to a conclusion as to what is going on,” Manfred said.
Baseball is on pace for 6,127 homers this season, which would obliterate the existing record of 5,693 in 2000. In recent weeks, an increasing number of pitchers has claimed publicly that the ball is different — harder, smaller and/or with lower seams - than in years past, and a pair of studies by analytics websites has backed up those claims.
Pressed about specific claims about the seams — which some pitchers have blamed for an apparent increase in the incidence of blisters — Manfred said he is aware of the issue and has people looking into it. He also dismissed suggestions performance-enhancing drugs could be a factor, saying the sport’s current drug-testing program features more frequent and less predictable testing than at any other time in its history.
Finally, when asked which additional factors the sport is examining, Manfred brought up the issue of bats, though he stopped short of saying he suspects they are a contributing factor.
“We’ve kind of taken it for granted,” Manfred said, “that the bats aren’t different.”
Manfred also cited the “organic” changes in the way the game is played — hitters attuned to “launch angles,” pitchers who throw increasingly harder, general managers who value hitters with power and don’t mind strikeouts as a trade-off.
“There have been dramatic changes in the game, the way the game is taught, the way the game is played at the bigleague level,” Manfred said. “Those changes are driven by decisions of 30 general managers and field managers who are trying to win a couple more games …
“Will we ever know the whole answer? Probably not. I think the more important question for us is to figure out as much as we can about what’s going on, and then even more important, think about what it means for our fans and whether we need to do something to manage the change.”