Justin Verlander isn’t buying any of MLB’s explanations for the alarming spike in home runs this season. He thinks the baseballs are juiced, and MLB is behind all of it.
Verlander has allowed 26 home runs at the All-Star break this season. The most home runs he’s allowed in an entire season was 30 — in 2016 — and he’ll easily eclipse that mark this season.
But again, this suspicion over juiced baseballs goes beyond a 36-year-old pitcher allowing a ton of dingers. Across baseball, home runs are way up — more so than the last time we all thought the baseballs were juiced. As ESPN’s Jeff Passan pointed out, there have been 3,691 home runs hit across baseball so far this season. The 2017 record 6,105 homers should be shattered by at least 500 home runs come October.
According to Verlander, it’s a joke. He told ESPN that he thinks MLB is engineering the home run surge by juicing the baseballs.
“It’s a f—ing joke. Major League Baseball’s turning this game into a joke. They own Rawlings, and you’ve got Manfred up here saying it might be the way they center the pill. They own the f—ing company. If any other $40 billion company bought out a $400 million company and the product changed dramatically, it’s not a guess as to what happened. We all know what happened. Manfred the first time he came in, what’d he say? He said we want more offense. All of a sudden he comes in, the balls are juiced? It’s not coincidence. We’re not idiots.”
He continued when asked if he thought the ball juicing was intentional:
“Yes. 100 percent. They’ve been using juiced balls in the Home Run Derby forever. They know how to do it. It’s not coincidence. I find it really hard to believe that Major League Baseball owns Rawlings and just coincidentally the balls become juiced.”
Despite allowing far more home runs than he’s accustomed to, Verlander is 10-4 and posting a 2.98 ERA this season. He’s making his second straight All-Star appearance with Houston.
