Have Major League baseballs been "juiced," as Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander flat out said on Twitter was the reason for a sizable uptick in home runs recently?
The one-time All-Star pitcher was responding to a tweet on Sunday from ESPN reporter Buster Olney. He noted 75 Major League players already have 20 or more home runs this season, compared to 57 all of last season. That went viral.
A June article posted in The Ringer, the SB Nation affiliated website, argued that a complicated combination of the ball's coefficient of restitution, or COR, along with size and seam could be playing a factor in the increased number of home runs.
The article examined the time period of 2015 to today, where the uptick in home runs was first noticed after the 2015 All-Star Break, noting that there were small but noticeable differences in the balls. The article said Major League baseball denied making any changes.
It’s not the first time Verlander has brought it up. He complained to the Detroit Free Press back in June.
"I think the old eye test is the best thing to go by," Verlander said. "Guys that have been around this game for a long time, you see balls leaving the yard that otherwise shouldn't. Whether it’s juiced or not, I don't know. I've seen conflicting reports. It's just kind of scratching the surface.”
"I wish, if it was true, that MLB would just say, 'Yeah, you know, we wanted more offense, we juiced them just a little bit.' At least then, it's like, 'OK, we're all on the same playing field, we got the same ball in our hands.' But the explanation of why home runs are going out at such an extreme rate, I think people just want answers to that. Specifically, the pitchers. I don't think the hitters mind," he said, per the Free Press.
The debate over juiced baseballs has been passionately argued on social media.