David Price and Jon Lester believe MLB is juicing baseballs
"It seems almost like the ones they use in the Home-Run derby."
Jon Lester has allowed three home runs in five starts this season. David Price has watched five of his pitches clear the fence in six appearances. Across Major League Baseball, there were a record 1,144 homers hit in March and April.
Lester, the former Boston Red Sox and current Chicago Cubs ace, and his Sox counterpart Price believe they know the source of this bonanza.
“I think there’s something up with the ball,” Lester told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “It seems almost like the ones they use in the Home-Run derby with the way it flies. But that’s the thing baseball people want to see, all of these homers, and how far they went.
“It gives the millennials something to look at and talk about with all of the stats, spin rates, launch angles and all of that stuff. But coming from a pitcher, it looks like an excuse.’”
Price pointed to the phenomenon of hitters sprinting out of the batters box, then realizing the double they thought they hit actually cleared the fence.
“That’s all you need to see,” Price said. “These balls are going 430, 440 feet, and they’re running full-sprint, and don’t think it’s a homer. They’re not even getting all of it, and they’re hitting homers to center field. That should not happen. Period.”
Independent reports commissioned by MLB last year determined there is less of a drag on the baseball. While commissioner Rob Manfred recently noted a hand-made baseball is going to have some variation, he insisted there has been no change in the ball’s manufacturing. A study conducted by The Athletic in the wake of the league’s report suggested that thicker laces on the balls may have led to the home run surge.
Nightengale and the pitchers he spoke to offered a couple other theories: hitters prioritizing homers over contact, and pitchers missing more often with off-speed or up-in-the-zone pitches. However, those don’t quite explain the increase how far the homers are traveling — MLB Statcast reports 50 home runs have been hit 441 feet or longer.
“And I don’t even believe Statcast,” Price said. “I think they’re being hit even further. I bring out my [golf] range finder, and that doesn’t lie.”
Lester let the Triple-A numbers (a 47.1 percent year-over-year increase in home-run rate) do the talking for him.
“That kind of speaks for itself, doesn’t it,” he said. “The numbers are through the roof.”
Price wants the truth.
“Come on, just tell us,” the southpaw said. “We all see it. Just come clean and say it.”
