Catalano: In defense of the home run
From Michele Catalano at The Hardball Times on August 21, 2019:
I have the same conversation with my father on at least a weekly basis: “The balls are juiced,” he complains. “There are too many home runs.”
While there’s an argument to be made as to whether the balls are juiced—MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has gone on record to say that the balls aren’t juiced, it’s just that Rawlings has gotten better at making them—there’s no doubt the number of home runs being hit this year is indeed staggering. Teams combined for a record 1,142 home runs in June. The Minnesota Twins just became the fastest team to reach 200 home runs in a season. Balls are flying out of parks, and not just at Coors Field.
The record for home runs in a season stands at 6,105 in 2017. It’s expected that record will be broken this year. And a whole lot of fans, like my dad, aren’t happy about that. But in my mind, there’s no such thing as too many home runs. I love the homer, the dinger, the bomber, the tater, whatever you want to call it. They say chicks dig the long ball, but so does most everyone else.
Read the full article here: https://tht.fangraphs.com/in-defense-of-the-home-run/
Originally published: August 21, 2019. Last Updated: August 21, 2019.