Justin Verlander doubles down on juiced-ball claim: ‘I don’t like being lied to’
Justin Verlander on Thursday took to Twitter to double down on his previous claims that baseballs are juiced. While the Houston Astros pitcher claims to not particularly care if baseballs are being manipulated or altered in some form, he just wishes Major League Baseball would come clean on the issue.
All I’m saying is I don’t care if balls are juiced (seriously). We’re all using the same ball so it’s a fair field. My issue is I don’t like being lied to. I knew something was different. Century old records are being broken and numbers are skewed.
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) March 2, 2018
Verlander preceded the above tweet with another one with a chart which he finds particularly compelling.
Been sitting on this… Exit velo and launch angle and it’s correlation to % chance of becoming a homer. 2014 vs. 2017 pic.twitter.com/UrfVVFVuJB
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) March 2, 2018
Verlander presumably was inspired to restart his crusade due to a study from FiveThirtyEight published Thursday that confronts the juiced baseball conspiracy, as evidenced by a tweet in which he links to a report on the site’s findings.
Surprising. Oh wait… been saying this for a couple years now. ????????♂️ #juicedballs https://t.co/lQCaFNr3Sz
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) March 2, 2018
Verlander has long contended that baseballs have been altered to the benefit of hitters, going all the way back to the 2015 MLB season, when he said the notion baseballs are juiced passes the “old eye test.” A report from The Ringer supported Verlander’s long-held theory. The pitcher at that time referred to the report as “a pretty good article.”
Verlander then made waves last fall when espousing again his theory that baseballs are juiced, which inspired now-wife Kate Upton to call out MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in a since-deleted tweet.
Major League Baseball has consistently and unequivocally maintained that baseballs are not juiced or altered in any form. Good luck convincing Velander of that notion.
Verlander not surprisingly has received support for Thursday’s tweetstorm, some serious and others in jest, with the latter highlighted by a tweet Atlanta Braves pitcher Brandon McCarthy.
I don't know man I got a memo in my locker that said "balls are the same. We said so. Bye.- MLB Science" So, I don't know what to believe.
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) March 2, 2018
And FiveThirtyEight’s own Rob Arthur, who co-wrote the piece published Thursday, hailed Verlander’s acumen by retweeting the graph posted by the pitcher.
A lot of people condescending to Verlander but he seems to know what he's talking about here–accurately showing that the air resistance of the ball has decreased. https://t.co/tlYeOOiEdQ
— Rob Arthur (@No_Little_Plans) March 2, 2018
No bad for a so-called dumb jock, right?