MLB Deadening Baseballs? But why?

Major League Baseball announced that they are taking steps to "deaden" the baseball in an effort to cut down the record breaking home run rates around the league. While pitchers across the league complained about the ball feeling "different", MLB continued to state that nothing had changed with the ball. 

        AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill 

Before I dig into why I think "deadening" the ball doesn't make much sense, let's take stroll down memory lane. During the 2014 season, many people were complaining about offense being down and hitting being at historical lows around the league. Pitching was dominating and batters seemingly had no answer at the plate. Not only were hitters around the league slumping, but fans were growing more and more frustrated with the product on the field. At the time, analysts blamed strikeout totals (which is interesting due to baseball folks now blaming launch angle and a focus on analytics, but we can save that for another discussion.) A "Grantland" article from 2014 did a bit of a deep dive into the offensive woes of that season  and while I don't want to rehash the entire article, it's interesting to see their arguments and they're mostly the same things people blame nowadays (most notably: shifts and strikeouts). 

Let's face it, modern day baseball has evolved into a data and scientific driven sport. The most efficient way to score is by hitting home runs (and taking walks). Batters can now see their swing and launch data in real-time and have become much better at not only fixing their swings, but also improving their approach at the plate. Just a few seasons ago, fans and analysts were clamoring for more offense, but now that we have a more offensive driven league, they suddenly want to go back to having pitchers dominate? Isn't that counterintuitive? We can say the previous ball was "juiced", but MLB continued to state that wasn't the case. While I personally think the balls were a bit juiced, it doesn't change the fact that the rise in offense was brought about by a change in player training and the new emphasis on embracing technology (Edgertronic cameras literally changed everything about player development.) Training, development, and technology organically drove the offensive advances in the sport. 

It's no shock that MLB feels the need to cut down on the amount of home runs. If you watch a baseball broadcast, you're likely to hear out-of-touch commentators lambasting "launch angle" and "defensive shifts" etc. You may even hear a few commentators pushing for more bunts and wondering why teams aren't playing "A-B-C baseball." 

To me, deadening the baseball is just another attempt by MLB to artificially bring change to the sport. Much like the Wild Card "one-game playoff", which was brought about by the organic energy of Game 162 back in 2011, we are seeing a push towards a man-made change that'll accomplish exactly what the "old-school" folks want to see and not what new age fans want to see. MLB has already eliminated bullpen specialists and imposed a three batter rule for relief pitchers, which I feel takes late game strategy away to improve pace-of-play by a whopping fifty seconds! In addition to that, during the time before folks claimed the ball was "juiced", pitching stats were a bit inflated, but the great hitters still put up their numbers, albeit with a few less home runs. Now, with the offense being boosted a bit, the best pitchers in baseball (DeGrom, Kershaw, Cole, etc.) have all continued to dominate. Which brings me to ask, why do we need to change? If a few scrub hitters slap a few more dingers, is it any different than some scrub pitchers having career seasons due to a dead ball? I'm sure things will once again level out, but do we seriously need to change the ball to cut down on home runs? Who asked for this? 

MLB continues to fall flat in appealing to new, and younger, audiences. Will a change back to more bunts and fewer home runs really bring in new fans? Instead of deadening the ball, why not fix the archaic blackout policies? Why not work on bringing down ticket prices? Why not stop teams from moving from the city to the suburbs (looking at you, Atlanta...)? Why not punish owners who tank the franchise for a tax write off? There's plenty of ways to improve the sport, but "deadening" the baseball will only set the sport back. 

Braves Interested In Young Catchers? Why?

The Braves are being linked to young catchers and they're apparently willing to offer young pitchers in return. But are they needed?

Kevin Cox/Getty Images

To me, the bigger question is why are they seemingly giving up on Christian Bethancourt after 104 plate appearances this season? In a rebuilding year, they're going with 38 year old A.J. Pierzynski and failed prospect Ryan Lavarnway. Why is a franchise that is in full rebuilding mode choosing to give up on their own highly touted prospect? And choosing to play someone past their prime and a catcher who was a highly touted prospect, but failed to live up to the expectations? 


Instead of searching for other catchers and giving up valuable pitching assets, why not give playing time and experience to Bethancourt? If you buy into "veteran leadership" and "grit" Pierzynski would make the perfect back-up for a player who is trying to establish himself at the Major League level. The Braves have decided to bury Bethancourt in Triple-A and essentially destroy any value he may have had.


In his short stint with the Braves this season, Bethancourt has struggled at the plate, but he has been good for a 0.6 dWAR behind the plate. Lavarnway and Pierzynski have combined for a -0.7 dWAR and a mediocre 0.9 oWAR.

On paper, the combination of Bethancourt and Pierzynski would be the most effective duo in Atlanta, but they choose to not give Bethancourt a legitimate shot at establishing himself behind the plate.

For a team that's building towards the 2017 season, limiting the at-bats for one of the biggest position player prospects in recent memory is not the right way to go about things. With his value at an all-time low, he wouldn't help the Braves out in a trade either.

In Triple-A, Bethancourt is doing pretty well given the small sample size so far. Hopefully this will lead to another promotion to Atlanta and the Braves will finally give him a legitimate shot to prove his value. If not, Atlanta will possibly trade valuable pitching prospects for a defense first position... Which is interesting considering that's Bethancourt's speciality.