MLB used two different balls during the 2021 season, a breakdown
What Happened
In the 2021 MLB season, it is revealed that the league used two different baseballs, contrary to their initial plans. Aaron Judge, the star outfielder for the New York Yankees and other players were not made aware of this change mid-season. MLB had intended to switch to a new, standardized baseball for the 2021 season. The previous baseballs used in 2019 and 2020 were described as "tight and heavy" and "flying like crazy." MLB wanted to revert to a "looser" ball that would "fly a little less" in 2021. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted production at the Rawlings factory, the exclusive supplier of MLB baseballs. In February 2021, MLB reportedly reached out to the players' union and informed them that they would need to dip into the existing 2020 baseball supply to get through the season, as they did not have enough of the new 2021 balls. "We don't got enough balls, we got to dip in to the batch from 2020 to get us through this season," MLB allegedly told the union. Many players claim they were unaware of this change. Dr. Meredith Wills, a researcher who has extensively studied MLB baseballs, adds a twist to the story. According to her findings, Rawlings continued producing both the old 2020 baseballs and the new 2021 balls even after the February memo. "Some of the flying tighter heavier balls were still being made after COVID, after the memo - they were still producing both balls," Wills states. This means MLB teams were potentially using a mix of the two different ball types throughout the 2021 season, without the knowledge or consent of the players. "One flies, the other dies," the transcript notes, referring to the contrasting characteristics of the two ball variants. Pitcher uncertainty over which ball they are throwing "is not good," the summary concludes. While both ball types fell within MLB's approved specifications, the lack of consistency and transparency around the baseball supply is concerning for players, coaches and fans alike. The transcript raises questions about the league's handling of this issue and the potential impact on game play and statistics across the 2021 season.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentall right here we go we got more drama
about the baseballs in ml
b apparently they used two different
balls in the 2021 season the reason
being they were gonna change the ball
all together in 2020 2019 it was tight
and it was heavy and it was flying like
crazy and they said you know what in
2021 we're gonna go back to what we
think is the best performance it's gonna
be a little looser it's gonna fly a
little less one flies the other dies
we're choosing die in 2021
we gotcha but in february of 2021 they
reach out to the players union
apparently mlb says they reached out and
they say hey guys
you know what we told you about only
using the new balls well covet happened
rawlings factory production halted we
don't got enough balls we got to dip in
to the batch from 2020 to get us through
this season so it's gonna be a bit of a
grab bag our bad next year 2022 we
gotcha it's only gonna be the new balls
apparently they told the players union
about that a lot of players say i didn't
know that
also the balls
fall into the approved amount so
one's heavy one's light one's loose
one's tight they're all in the window of
approval just on different ends of that
window
and they didn't like apparently we don't
know we don't know anything about this
but you know the report doesn't say they
were like that's a that's a game that we
need some eyes on use the use the good
balls and use those balls there was just
random because they didn't have enough
but the true weird part is that dr
meredith wills who's been studying the
baseballs and doing research on them for
years we had her on the podcast she puts
a lot of hard work into this she's been
cutting open balls and she says per her
research
that
rawlings was still producing both
versions of the ball after the february
memo went out when they were like sorry
production's been halted we got to dip
into the old ball so some of the flying
tighter heavier balls
were still being made after covet after
the memo they were still producing both
balls i don't know
mlb owns
rawlings
so they can do whatever they want and
then according to them they told the
players union so they covered their
butts that way
and both balls fall into the approval
window
so they probably are safe there but is
it good that you got one ball that flies
and the one that dies and the pitcher
doesn't know which one he's holding no
it's not it's not good