Rob Manfred: "They [Rawlings] haven't changed their process in any meaningful way. They haven't changed their materials. There's two points that I would make, even in the report last year: The scientists identified the pill in the baseball — not what it was actually composed of — but the centering of the pill in the baseball as something that could be a drag issue. To the extent that the pill is not perfectly centered, the ball wobbles when it's hit, creates more drag. We think one of the things that may be happening is they're getting better at centering the pill. It creates less drag."
Listen to Dan Patrick discuss Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred recently acknowledging that there is indeed a physical difference in the baseballs this season compared to years past.
The idea of ‘juiced balls’ has long been a trendy conspiracy theory that tries to explain the rise and fall of home run totals over multiple generations, but this marked the first time a high ranking MLB executive not only spoke on the topic, but legitimately provided admission to it.
The MLB is seeing home run totals rise at metaphoric levels the last few seasons, with the extreme increase in 2019 compared to the already historically high-2017 season proving that this isn’t just minor anomaly.
MLB teams are on pace to hit over 600 more home runs than they did in 2017, and six players have already hit over 20 home runs.
Manfred says Rawlings, the official baseball provider to the MLB, has changed the way they center the ‘pill’ in the middle of the baseball, which is creating less drag while the ball is in flight.
Check out the audio below as Dan discusses how the home run ball is once again defining the sport.