Mets pitchers complained about the inconsistencies and slickness of the baseballs provided by MLB this season. The Yankees, meanwhile, were still not sure what to make of them.
“I gotta be honest, I haven’t really noticed much,” Jameson Taillon said Wednesday before the Yankees game against the Baltimore Orioles at the Stadium. “Maybe when I spend a few days playing catch, I’ll be like, ‘Oh man, this ball seems a little smaller than another ball’ or something like that, but as far as in game goes, I haven’t had any problems.”
Hitters in the dugout, however, watched hard-hit balls, that would have gone out in years past, die at the warning track.
“The big thing it’s been, the offense has been a little bit down,” Aaron Boone said. “And that could be a number of factors, whether shortened spring training, small sample, ball humidor. We’re all drawing our own conclusions and saying ‘why?’ I thought last night was a night where the ball flew really well. … So we’ll see. I mean, yeah, I think everyone’s kinda like wondering a little bit, but I think it’s gonna play out.”
Offensive numbers two weeks into the season have been down significantly. Entering Wednesday, the league-wide slugging percentage was .368, down 11% from last season. Runs per game were at 4.06, also down 11%.
The grumbling about the baseballs came to the forefront Tuesday night when Mets slugger Pete Alonso was hit in the head for the second time this season and starter Chris Bassitt went off on MLB and its baseballs. He claimed the baseballs have been slicker and pitchers have struggled to get an adequate grip on them.
“MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs — they are bad,” Bassitt said after his team’s 3-0 victory over the Cardinals. “Everyone knows it. Every pitcher in the league knows it. MLB doesn’t give a damn about it. They don’t care. We have told them our problems with them, they don’t care.”
Taillon said he’s heard the complaints from across the game from pitchers and hitters. He also complimented MLB’s implementation of uniform rosin and how that has helped.
“It’s definitely better. We’ve got the rock rosin out there on the mound. And we’re starting to learn how to kind of use that to the best of our ability. With the dry weather in the cold air,” Taillon said. “I think it’ll be better in the summer, but I haven’t really had too big of a problem gripping the ball.”
While the Mets have been hit by pitches a lot this season (19 times, seven more than any other team), hit by pitches around the league are pretty much along the normal rates of last season. The Yankees were already plunked eight times with Anthony Rizzo (who leads the majors in hit by pitches) getting hit four times.
It’s an issue Taillon, the Yankees player rep, said the union talked about with MLB, which owns the company that manufactures the league’s baseballs.
“It would be nice if there was a little more transparency,” Taillon said. “Like last year, they were talking about different balls being in circulation and stuff, but I don’t think this is some grand scheme by MLB trying to mess up the game or anything. I think they’re trying their best to find a sweet spot here with the ball. And hopefully we can get there.”
JOSE DAY
Jose Trevino was back in the lineup catching Wednesday night, but Boone said it wasn’t a result of Kyle Higashioka’s struggles at the plate.
“I think it’s just more a product of Trevino and kind of what I feel like he is, as well,” Boone said. “I still feel like Kyle’s gonna get it going. We’ll see that power stroke come. But the bottom line is I feel like I got two good ones that are probably going to share a lot of playing time.”
Higashioka, who inherited the starting catching job when the Yankees traded Gary Sanchez to the Twins, is hitting .111/.154/.139 with a .293 OPS. Trevino, who isn’t known as much of a power threat, is a more consistent hitter. He’s slashing .278/.316/.333 with a .649 OPS.
While there was a definite difference between Sanchez, an offense-first player, and Higashioka, a good pitch framer and receiver, there is less between Trevino and Higashioka. The Yankees pitching staff has a better ERA with Trevino behind the plate.
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