New ball could be real blast
Flat-seam baseball should help hitters
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas outfielder Joe Serrano knew a fastball was coming, based on the pre-practice dictates for the Razorback pitchers in the team’s first scrimmage last month.
“You still have to hit it,” Serrano said.
Serrano squared up a fastball from reliever Jacob Stone and launched it over the left-field wall for a three-run home run in the Jan. 23 scrimmage. Stone allowed one home run in 38 1/3 innings last season while compiling a 0.94 earned run average.
The same solid shot by Serrano, a game-changing hit in a late-innings at-bat against an opponent’s closer, might not have gotten out of Baum Stadium last year. But with college baseball rolling out baseballs with lowered seams this season, combined with slightly modified bats, the prospect for more sharply hit balls, more home runs and more offense has been enhanced.
“It’s a game changer, really,” Arkansas first baseman Clark Eagan said of the new baseballs. “I didn’t hit it for a while in the fall because of my knee scope, but as soon as I came back it was real shocking.”
The Razorbacks will get their first real hacks with the new balls Friday when they host North Dakota in their season opener at 3:05 p.m. at Baum Stadium.
Arkansas hit 28 home runs in 2014 and allowed 22. Combine those home run totals and add 42 and you match the Razorbacks’ school record of 92 home runs set in 2010.
The next season, out of safety concerns, the NCAA mandated less-potent bats to decrease the speed of batted balls. Scoring dropped a immediately and reached depressing lows the past couple of years.
The change in the new ball is subtle but it is expected to liven up offenses and cut down on the small-ball epidemic that had seemingly taken over college baseball. The lower seams make the ball more like the ones used in professional baseball.
“I feel like you’ll see across the board nationally there’s going to be a lot more home runs and extra-base hits and scoring in general,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said.
“The new balls are amazing,” Serrano said. “They seem to travel and fly pretty far. I think they’re kind of evening up the playing field. It’s more focused on getting more home runs out of the new bats.”
Research by the NCAA has shown the lowered-seam ball will travel up to 20 percent farther with less drag, The Washington Post reported during last year’s College World Series, where there were only three home runs hit, matching the total in 2013.
“The ball, in my opinion, is better,” Van Horn said. “If you have one in each of your hands, you can really tell a difference.
“When we hit it, it travels a little farther. We hit the ball out of the park more consistently in batting practice. There are two reasons: The baseball, and we’re a little bit better.”
Other coaches seem to agree.
“I think you’re going to see a significant jump in offensive numbers across the board, not just in homers,” UCLA Coach John Savage told The Associated Press. “The ball is definitely more lively. Fly balls that used to hang up in the air and get caught are now falling for doubles.
“You’re really going to have to have speed on defense.”
Arkansas hitting coach Tony Vitello said Van Horn’s offensive optimism reflects that of the players.
“Whatever he said, if he was positive, those guys triple it in there,” Vitello said. “So if they can carry that into game day, we’re going to be looking pretty good offensively.”
Arkansas’ pitching staff led the nation with a 1.89 earned run average in 2013, and the Razorbacks’ 2.63 team ERA was one of 19 in the country that was better than 2.80 last season.
Those gaudy pitching numbers will be harder to come by with the changes to the balls and bats, which most baseball analysts saw as a necessity after the paltry home run numbers at the College World Series.
“I think the lower seams, compared to the bigger ones, it’s going to get more backspin, more travel, so the pitching’s going to be different,” outfielder Andrew Benintendi said.
“It definitely travels a lot farther, which I think the fans will enjoy more,” Eagan said. “I know us hitters enjoy it more.”
Many pitchers also seem fond of the new ball.
“I love them,” sophomore right-hander Zach Jackson said. “Some people I’ve talked to don’t like them as much. As far as for me, I have a better breaking ball with it. It’s really helped.
“It sucks that when they get a hold of it, it’ll go a little farther than it used to, but I like the ball.”
Van Horn said his pitchers are less likely to develop blisters with reduced friction against the seams.
Junior right-hander Trey Killian said watching balls travel farther in batting practice can be discouraging for a pitcher, but he said he thinks pitches will be easier to control.
“As a pitcher it makes it easier, gives you a better feel for the baseball,” Killian said. “The sinker seems to be sinking a lot more and the change-ups are dropping and the breaking ball seems to be a little bit sharper.”