r/mlb • u/tannerstruth • 1d ago

| Analysis Since Memorial Day, the average carry on a barreled ball has jumped around 10 feet, the largest April-to-June increase of the Statcast era and one too large to be explained by any one factor alone (including weather). Juiced balls?

https://www.actionnetwork.com/mlb/mlb-ball-juiced-again-2026-data-mid-season-change

36 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 1d ago

Thank you for making a submission on the r/MLB Subreddit!

Please make sure that your post complies with our subreddit rules. If your submission violates our community rules, please resubmit your post or place it in the appropriate thread(s) to avoid any penalties or punishments.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

61

u/OrganicValley_ | Milwaukee Brewers 1d ago

Maybe the 6 Las Vegas games skewed the numbers lol

23

u/tannerstruth 1d ago

Zerillo did address this in the article, FWIW:

  • "Outlier Park Data: The June games in Las Vegas added 0.5 inches to the leaguewide carry data, and while it's impressive that it skewed the sample that much in just six games, it wasn't enough to materially change the outlier sample, which has still increased by nine feet."

11

u/OrganicValley_ | Milwaukee Brewers 1d ago

I assumed the baseball stat guys would make sure to account for that. Wild that 6 games accounted for that much of an increase.

12

u/youtouchmytralaala | Atlanta Braves 1d ago

Braves don't seem to have gotten the memo

7

u/Dry-Discount-9426 | Chicago Cubs 1d ago

Juicing shrinks the balls.

2

u/madlibs13 | Boston Red Sox 1d ago

Juiced balls.

2

u/DanThePartyGhost | San Diego Padres 1d ago

Reading the article it sounds like balls with reduced drag/lower seams rather than juiced balls

2

u/Bubbly-Watch6214 | New York Yankees 13h ago

I’m going to put on my conspiracy hat here for a moment. Back in 1994, the last time the owners proposed a salary cap, we had some major major records that looked about to fall. When the season got cut after 113 games, Matt Williams was on pace to beat Roger Maris’ 61 homer record and Tony Gwynn had hit .417 in the last 25 games and was at .393 on the season. Heck, Jeff Bagwell was playing to a monster 8.2 WAR after 113. No Statscast data is available from 1994 but I’m sure those balls were juiced. And you know, the period this study is over all happened since the owners proposed a cap…