first google result for "is the ball juiced 2016", but even as far back as May 1 this year there's this:
At the risk of sounding like someone who believes in chemtrails and listens to Infowars religiously, I have a confession to make: More and more I’m convinced that juiced balls are causing a home run spike throughout baseball.I am far from the only one. It’s hitters and pitchers and coaches and executives and even rational, cogent analysts who cannot find a reasonable explanation for the spike in home runs dating back to last August. The HR/FB rate – the percentage of fly balls that end up over the fence – spiked over the season’s final two months, and it has continued this April.With 11.8 percent of fly balls leaving the yard in the season’s first month, it marked the highest April rate since the league started tracking the data in 2002. The number mirrored those of August (12.2 percent) and September (12.3 percent), which Hardball Times analyst Jon Roegele noticed after not even a month. Roegele studied it and came to an impasse.“I couldn't find anything to describe that amount of HR/offensive change, as far as weather, strike zone, where pitchers were pitching, etc.,” he wrote in an email this week. “I suspected that they changed something with the balls after the All-Star break last year as nothing else in the data could explain it.”
I am far from the only one. It’s hitters and pitchers and coaches and executives and even rational, cogent analysts who cannot find a reasonable explanation for the spike in home runs dating back to last August. The HR/FB rate – the percentage of fly balls that end up over the fence – spiked over the season’s final two months, and it has continued this April.
With 11.8 percent of fly balls leaving the yard in the season’s first month, it marked the highest April rate since the league started tracking the data in 2002. The number mirrored those of August (12.2 percent) and September (12.3 percent), which Hardball Times analyst Jon Roegele noticed after not even a month. Roegele studied it and came to an impasse.
“I couldn't find anything to describe that amount of HR/offensive change, as far as weather, strike zone, where pitchers were pitching, etc.,” he wrote in an email this week. “I suspected that they changed something with the balls after the All-Star break last year as nothing else in the data could explain it.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/10-degrees--is-a-juiced-ball-causing-mlb-s-large-home-run-spike-025820397-mlb.html
― I look forward to hearing from you shortly, (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 23 August 2016 21:30 (eight years ago) link
538 has several articles where they're basically just openly assuming the ball's juiced
wouldn't be surprising, manfred came in and made a change
but you'd think it'd be easy to just like... open up a ball and look ?
― qualx, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 01:41 (eight years ago) link
the physics guy, Alan Nathan, did a juiced-ball prez at Saberseminar! He did cut open balls. answer: "we don't know"
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 01:46 (eight years ago) link
wouldve gotten quite the side-eye from me in april if you told me both rick porcello and ja happ would have 17 wins while chris archer would have 17 losses @ this pt
― johnny crunch, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 02:16 (eight years ago) link
& i know "wins" who cares, don't @ me
― johnny crunch, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 02:30 (eight years ago) link
if you told me james shields would have an ERA of 17.36 and allow 4 more home runs than strikeouts in his first 4 starts of august i would've said "ok"
― qualx, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 02:34 (eight years ago) link
https://twitter.com/abaseballmind/status/768068609176440832
not sure where else to put this
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 19:40 (eight years ago) link
^amazin'
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 20:29 (eight years ago) link
@jay_jaffe
most HR thru first 21 career games: 10 (George Scott 1966, Trevor Story 2016)9 (Mandy Brooks 1925, Alvin Davis 1984, Gary Sanchez '15-16)
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 20:31 (eight years ago) link
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/watch-jarrod-dyson-becomes-the-first-player-to-rob-a-home-run-in-marlins-park/
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 26 August 2016 00:17 (eight years ago) link
@ESPNStatsInfoThe Giants are on pace to be the first team ever with the best record before the All-Star break and the worst record after it (@EliasSports)
― mookieproof, Friday, 26 August 2016 22:19 (eight years ago) link
lol wow
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Friday, 26 August 2016 22:21 (eight years ago) link
Gary Sanchez the fastest to 11 hrs in mlb history o_o
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 27 August 2016 22:33 (eight years ago) link
ah yes the famous 11-home-run mark by which players are always measured
― Immediate Follower (NA), Saturday, 27 August 2016 23:14 (eight years ago) link
its how i judge all athletes, even non baseball players
― johnny crunch, Sunday, 28 August 2016 00:01 (eight years ago) link
no way he gets to 22 this year
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 28 August 2016 01:03 (eight years ago) link
frickin jeff gyrko has had 15 hrs since all star break
― brimstead, Sunday, 28 August 2016 01:06 (eight years ago) link
west by god virginia ftw
― mookieproof, Sunday, 28 August 2016 01:07 (eight years ago) link
idk it's kinda cool to do something 18,000+ players over the course of a century have never done, however obscure
― mookieproof, Sunday, 28 August 2016 01:12 (eight years ago) link
Mike Everitt is having fun tonight.
― Andy K, Sunday, 28 August 2016 01:18 (eight years ago) link
Dustin Pedroia has 11 hits in his last 11 at-bats. Twelve is the major league record. Pedroia will bat in the bottom of the eighth, if not sooner.
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 28 August 2016 01:44 (eight years ago) link
(something else for NA to be bored by)
i only think a hitter should get in the HOF if they have 45.45 11 homers or 272.72 11 hits
― qualx, Sunday, 28 August 2016 01:47 (eight years ago) link
I'm mostly just being a dick admittedly but the choice of 11 as the mile marker seems like an arbitrary way to put him past what Trevor Story did just a few months ago.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Sunday, 28 August 2016 02:47 (eight years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrH_P2sUAAAm5M5.jpg:large
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 30 August 2016 17:50 (eight years ago) link
@JimBowden_ESPNEarly consensus from scouts evaluating Tebow's baseball tools at work out: 55 Run 40 Arm 40 FLD 35 Hit 55 Power
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 30 August 2016 19:25 (eight years ago) link
Rangers Rangers Rangers
― Dominique, Wednesday, 31 August 2016 03:34 (eight years ago) link
@Buster_ESPNThe verbal jousting between Adrian Beltre and Felix Hernandez in between pitches is hilarious.
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 31 August 2016 19:14 (eight years ago) link
^would read a transcript
ricky fucking nolasco with a 94-pitch maddux
― qualx, Thursday, 1 September 2016 01:40 (eight years ago) link
Isn't he, like, 94 in baseball years?
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Thursday, 1 September 2016 01:58 (eight years ago) link
if memory serves, i actually think jered weaver, of all people, had a maddux this year too. angels staff might lead the league
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Thursday, 1 September 2016 02:16 (eight years ago) link
i always used to draft ricky nolasco in fantasy and stick with him way too long because his FIP was so much better than his ERA and this was back when everyone thought that meant he absolutely had to be better than he was
him and kevin slowey just ruined me for years
― qualx, Thursday, 1 September 2016 02:33 (eight years ago) link
i had Nolasco in HACKING MASS a year or two ago
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 1 September 2016 04:11 (eight years ago) link
anyone tried this?
https://theringer.com/mlb-tv-game-changer-redzone-4e5d5e81c99c#.xml16qygj
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 1 September 2016 04:24 (eight years ago) link
as a baseball fan but not a hardcore fan of any particular team i honestly don't care enough about the outcomes of games these days to use that -- i use my mlb.tv to watch my favorite players -- votto's at bats, fernandez's innings, etc. sounds cool though
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Thursday, 1 September 2016 04:38 (eight years ago) link
Moncada getting called up
― Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 1 September 2016 04:44 (eight years ago) link
https://twitter.com/epchihuahuas/status/771553497548337152
O_O
― have you ever even read The Drudge Report? Have you gone on Stormfron (k3vin k.), Friday, 2 September 2016 04:29 (eight years ago) link
jeter would have run that out
― mookieproof, Friday, 2 September 2016 13:03 (eight years ago) link
^ FP
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 2 September 2016 13:10 (eight years ago) link
That was some crazy English on that hit.
― earlnash, Friday, 2 September 2016 13:20 (eight years ago) link
better view: https://twitter.com/epchihuahuas/status/771817131654549504
― mookieproof, Friday, 2 September 2016 23:33 (eight years ago) link
and the second-half leaders in HR are
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/here-are-the-two-unlikely-sluggers-pacing-baseball-in-second-half-home-runs/
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 4 September 2016 14:02 (eight years ago) link
could be a fun September in Queens if Jay Bruce has shed his Jason Bay impression
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Monday, 5 September 2016 02:17 (eight years ago) link
fred freeman currently 3rd in NL WAR. Think I've seen his face like two times this year?
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Monday, 5 September 2016 18:33 (eight years ago) link
I can't say I'm a Barves fan anymore, but I'm happy for the former huggy bear -- he's really having a great year.
― aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuu (melting robot) (WilliamC), Monday, 5 September 2016 19:30 (eight years ago) link
this dozier fellow
― mookieproof, Monday, 5 September 2016 21:25 (eight years ago) link
Theodosia Brian Dozier hits me a homer every day
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Monday, 5 September 2016 21:32 (eight years ago) link
guy is nuts
― johnny crunch, Monday, 5 September 2016 21:34 (eight years ago) link
why is he hitting leadoff
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Monday, 5 September 2016 21:36 (eight years ago) link