Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor is a strong dude who is capable of hitting a lot of dingers — nobody is denying that. He hit 38 home runs last season and 33 the year before that.
But few would expect Lindor to be able to hit a one-handed, upper-cut home run from one knee. Well, that was until baseball’s 2019 power surge happened.
Ahead of the All-Star Game, Astros pitcher Justin Verlander accused MLB of deliberately juicing the baseballs to add more offense to the game. He said that homer surge was turning the game into a “joke.” This season has MLB players on pace to shatter the 2017 record of 6,105 homers, and when you have home run swings that look like this, it’s hard not to think that something is amiss.
During Sunday’s game against the Royals, Lindor got caught with his weight out front, went down to a knee and essentially swung with one hand. That was still enough for the Indians shortstop to send a home run 10 rows deep into the right-field stands.
MLB has denied that the league is deliberately juicing the baseballs, but studies have shown that something is objectively different about the 2019 balls.
Lindor’s home run alone could be evidence of that.
