The Juiced Ball Theory Is Back

Lower seams + Less Drag = Longer Ball Flight. The  NCAA found that out. Plus it allows MLB to divert attention to "no change in COR". What they are finding out that the NCAA did not is that blisters are up, probably because MLB pitcher throw the ball more often than collegians.

Whenever they want more HR's they monkey with the ball or the strike zone. Launch angle is a ridiculous theory. If you could dial up launch angle "What coach 28 degrees, not 29 or 27?" why wouldn't just you spray line drives all over the yard and say "F- it" to grounders and fly balls"?

The Juiced Ball Is Back

New testing suggests the baseball is at least partially responsible for MLB's huge homer spike

Ben LindberghJun 14

https://theringer.com/amp/p/155cd21108bc?gi=2810278554b3&utm_source=Driveline+Baseball+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fc2a067ae6-Sunday_Thunder_Nuggets_6_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d541cdd9d2-fc2a067ae6-311453553&mc_cid=fc2a067ae6&mc_eid=48e9d48f3e

"The newer balls have higher CORs and lower circumferences and seam heights, which would be estimated to add an average of 7.1 feet to their distance, equivalent to the effect we would expect to stem from a 1.43 mph difference in exit speed. Although those differences don't sound enormous, Nathan has noted that "a tiny change in exit speed can lead to much larger changes in the number of home runs." Last July, he calculated that an exit-speed increase of 1.5 mph would be sufficient to explain the rise in home runs to that point, which means that the 1.43 mph effective difference that Lichtman's analysis uncovered could comport almost exactly with the initial increase in home runs. Lichtman calculates that a COR increase of this size, in this sample, falls 2.6 standard deviations from the mean, which means that it's extremely unlikely to have happened by chance."

This article is coauthored by sabermetrician Mitchel Lichtman, who also conducted the research on which it is based.

The newer balls have higher CORs and lower circumferences and seam heights, which would be estimated to add an average of 7.1 feet to their distance, equivalent to the effect we would expect to stem from a 1.43 mph difference in exit speed. Although those differences don't sound enormous, Nathan has noted that "a tiny change in exit speed can lead to much larger changes in the number of home runs." Last July, he calculated that an exit-speed increase of 1.5 mph would be sufficient to explain the rise in home runs to that point, which means that the 1.43 mph effective difference that Lichtman's analysis uncovered could comport almost exactly with the initial increase in home runs. Lichtman calculates that a COR increase of this size, in this sample, falls 2.6 standard deviations from the mean, which means that it's extremely unlikely to have happened by chance. 

With the newer balls' reduction in circumference comes a decrease in weight, although according to Robert Adair's book The Physics of Baseball, the ball's weight, independent of its other qualities, has little effect on flight distance. Similarly, while dynamic stiffness does affect the flight of balls hit by the hollow bats used in amateur ball, it doesn't play a role with the solid bats used in the big leagues. However, a dynamic-stiffness difference that large does add to the evidence of altered composition.