Home run rates are down a bit this season. Could it be the weather? J. C. Bradbury looks at April home runs over the past few seasons, and shows that they correlate pretty well with the temperature.
Joe Sheehan did a post on this a week or so ago at Baseball Prospectus. The numbers he presented suggest that the entire decline has occurred in the AL, which would suggest we need some game temperature data by league.
I think, but can't be completely certain, that the balls, like the umpires, have been consolidated...one ball for MLB as a whole. What's niggling at me is that there may be multiple suppliers, but I don't think they're league specific.
Joe Sheehan did a post on this a week or so ago at Baseball Prospectus. The numbers he presented suggest that the entire decline has occurred in the AL, which would suggest we need some game temperature data by league.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link to Sheehan's post:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7514
Very interesting ... thanks, Doc.
ReplyDeleteJoe does mention the balls ... do they still use different balls in the AL and NL? Are they made at different times, or different places?
I think, but can't be completely certain, that the balls, like the umpires, have been consolidated...one ball for MLB as a whole. What's niggling at me is that there may be multiple suppliers, but I don't think they're league specific.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Rawlings is THE supplier.
ReplyDeletehttp://shop.mlb.com/sm-rawlings-official-mlb-baseballs-dozen--pi-1910664.html
Darn, there goes a beautiful theory! :)
ReplyDelete