Why Baseballs Are Flying in 2019

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2019

⏱️ 3 minutes

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Summary

An analysis of the 2019 edition of the Major League baseball points to reasons why it's leaving ballparks at a record rate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is
0:02.0	is Scientific Americans 60 Second Science.
0:05.0	I'm Steve Mursky.
0:06.0	Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros
0:09.0	will start tonight's Major League Baseball
0:11.0	All-Star game for the American League.
0:13.7	He's in the news for more than that though.
0:15.8	Monday he told the ESPN that the huge rise in home runs this season
0:20.3	is due to the fact that the 2019 baseball is what he called quote
0:24.4	an effin joke end quote. Many other players and commentators have questioned
0:29.6	whether the ball is juiced that is made so that it travels farther and faster.
0:35.6	So however they are making or creating the baseballs, they're coming up with a rounder
0:40.8	baseball.
0:41.8	Sports Data Scientist Meredith Wills, with a rounder baseball. Sports data scientist Meredith Wills.
0:44.5	With a doctorate in astrophysics, her first studies were in publications like the
0:47.8	Astrophysical Journal and Solar Physics, but our most recent research on the 2019 baseball appeared June 25th in the online sports publication The Athletic.
0:58.0	So how do you make a baseball that's rounder than other baseballs?
1:02.0	Will's got our hands on 39 Major League Baseball is used in 2019,
1:07.0	compared with last year's ball.
1:09.0	The laces are thinner, the leather is substantially smoother.
1:14.0	Any one of these changes will make the aerodynamics of the ball better.
1:19.0	They will decrease the drag.
	...

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