A bullpen catcher told Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter David O’Brien he believes baseballs are juiced this year to help create excitement and aid attendance. The comment came in this exact tweet:
Attendance seems to be strong to start the year, but it generally is the first week of the season because fans are amped up about Opening Day. As for the claim that balls are being juiced, there have been 119 home runs hit in 52 games, yielding an average of 2.29 homers per game. If you compare it to this chart, that is a higher average than we’ve since 2000, but not by a large margin.
Most teams have only played three or four games thus far, so the sample size is too small to make any sweeping conclusions. I won’t discount what the catcher has said, especially considering he’s not the only one to make such a claim recently, but it’s too early to say if the data supports his feelings.
