Stros Schadenfreude said:
Is the ball juiced this year, or is this just an aberration. It seems like we have a ton of dudes absolutely mashing the ball, and it seems to be the same around MLB.
Altuve has a history of hitting around 20+ bombs a year, but is on pace to double that
Brantley tops out a little under 20, and is on pace for 34
Springer is not that much out of the ordinary but is on pace for close to 50
Correa is a bit tougher to average due to his injuries, but he's on pace for about 35 as well as I think.
The current HR per game average would be the highest of all time if it holds, just slightly ahead of 2017...but runs scored is pretty standard and well below the 2000ish steroid era peak...and
hits would be the lowest per game since 1972!!!Here is a crazy stat: If the current number holds, batters would strike out more per game than ever in history, and that number has risen slightly ever since 2008...
so the last 12 seasons are the top 12 seasons for strikeouts per game, in order.I think that if the ball was juiced, we'd be seeing more hits, not less. The focus on launch angles and hitting HR is causing a greater percentage of runs to be scored via HR, which does inflate HR numbers but also in part causes more strikeouts and less hits.